Australian Motorcyclist Issue #44 by Tony Clemenger

ZEALAND LIVE THE DREAM!

Guided Motorcycle Tour of South Island, New Zealand with Peter Thoeming, “The Bear”, Editor of AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLIST MAGAZINE

Featuring the amazing Omaka Classic Fighters International Airshow 2017

Omaka Tour....At a Glance:

This very special motorcycle tour of New Zealand’s stunning South Island is what you’ve been waiting for.

Ten days of heavenly riding at a great price that includes quality accommodation, breakfast, awesome activities and the support of multiple guides and luggage van. This tour has been especially designed around the legendary Easter 2017 Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow. So if you have any love for aircraft and classic vehicles this is the Motorcycle Tour of the Century for you.

We’re running this special tour in conjunction with Australian Motorcyclist Magazine - and the famous “Bear”

Peter Thoeming will be joining you, so be prepared for plenty of fun, fame and frolicking!

Wind your way around the snow-capped Southern Alps, pristine rivers, lakes, fiords and rainforests on traffic-free roads full of endless sweeps and bends;

Ride free with a great bunch of guys, all your luggage taken care of;

Relax in quality lodgings each night, followed by a great ‘Brekkie’;

Jet-boat up the canyons, helicopter over Mount Cook, and land on an ice-glacier;

Sit back and watch the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow from Platinum VIP seats

Omaka Tour Highlights:

Ride 4 legendary Mountain passes

Ride 4 National Parks

Platinum Gourmet Pass Day entry to the Omaka Classic FightersAirshow 2017

Helicopter Ride over the Alps with Ice Glacier Landing

Jet-boating through ‘The Lord of the Rings’ canyons

Whale-watch boat trip

Entry to the Wanaka Warbirds Museum

Queenstown, Adventure Capital of the Southern Hemisphere

Tour Dates 8th April - 17th April 2017

TRAVEL

Celebrate 100 years of BMW with ride away deals across the range. If touring’s your thing, now is the perfect time to explore your options, from the mid-sized twin F 800 GT right up to the mighty in-line six-cylinder K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL.

We’re celebrating 100 years of BMW, so why don’t you join in?

Book a test ride today at your BMW Motorrad dealer or bmwmotorrad.com.au

Editor Stuart Woodbury

Editor Emeritus J Peter Thoeming

Sales Manager Ralph Leavsey-Moase ralph@ausmotorcyclist.com.au

Photo Editor Nick Wood

Designer Amy Hale

Photographers Nick Wood Photography, Half-Light Photography

Contributors Robert Crick, Mike Grant, Jacqui Kennedy, Robert Lovas, Phil Gadd, Boris Mihailovic, Lester Morris, The Possum,Guy Stanford, Stuart Strickland, Michael Walley, Colin Whelan

Editorial contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au

Subscription enquiries www.ausmotorcyclist.com.au info@ausmotorcyclist.com.au 0412 220 680 or 0418 421 322

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Distributor Gordon and Gotch

Australian Motorcyclist Magazine is published by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. PO Box 2066, Boronia Park NSW 2111 Phone 0412 220 680 or 0418 421 322

This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of research, study, criticism, review, parody or satire and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without the prior written permission of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. Opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent those of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. No responsibility is accepted by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd or the editor for the accuracy of any statement, opinion or advice contained in the text or advertisements. Readers should rely on their own enquiries in making decisions tailored to their own interest.

*Recommended retail price

We encourage you to keep or recycle this magazine.

what’s he blabbing on about now?

Imust start off by giving The Bear (mostly) and myself (to a much lesser extent) a big “congratulations!”. You may be aware that we have a weekly newspaper column (called Motorcycle Weekly, in a variety of papers) which reaches somewhere around two million readers - and we’ve just submitted our one thousandth column! Yes, one thousand weeks of motorcycle columns! Think about that in terms of years… the Bear says not to.

Now that you’re back from crunching those numbers I must also mention the added beneﬁt of being a subscriber to Australian Motorcyclist. Not only do you get the magazine cheaper and delivered to your door every month and get a free gift when you subscribe or resubscribe, but you also get to delve into both The Bear’s and my life a little bit deeper by way of the weekly catch up email we send out to all our subscribers. It’s also a chance to ﬁnd out what we’ve been doing that week, and what’s coming up. It gives our subscribers a more personal experience, to feel more a part of the Australian Motorcyclist family. So, if you haven’t already subscribed, do it NOW! You’ll also get our new subscription gift – an Australian Motorcyclist beanie.

We’ve got a new long term bike, the fabulous Yamaha MT-09 Tracer. You’ll read about it in this issue, but I have to mention it here because our aim is to turn this already magniﬁcent motorcycle into what I consider to be the best touring motorcycle for Australian conditions. Follow our journey with the Tracer in our Long Termers section each month. And, if you want to buy the Tracer, please send The Bear or myself an email now and we can put you onto the right person at Yamaha to buy it. In terms of accessory value, try around four grand of kit that will be ﬁtted!

I’ve just raced Round 4 and the One Hour Endurance races with the PCRA (Post Classic Racing Association). I ended up qualifying second for Round 4 in Pre Modern F1 on my CBR900RR, winning the ﬁrst two races and setting a new lap record. Then I was excluded from the last race for passing under a

yellow ﬂag, which I say wasn’t there, but that’s life.

On Sunday for the two One Hour Endurance Races I was entered for, I qualified on pole in Pre Modern F3/250GP on my friend, Simon Hills’ Yamaha FZR400 - a full second clear from anyone else in the field and this included 250GP machines! My second rider, Dan Harrison qualified second on my CBR900RR for the Pre Modern F1/Period 6 750&1300 race.

Simon started on the 400 and crashed in the ﬁrst turn. This essentially put us a lap down when Simon came in to change over at the 22 minute mark. This left me with a huge job to try and win, or at least get second. On my second lap out the left hand bar folded down (!), which resulted in a hairy moment and some bumpy travel on the grass. I eventually got us back into second place when the chain let go, ending our race with about eight minutes to go. That’s racing, as the saying goes.

Now, onto my CBR. I started off and got us into a comfortable second position (ﬁrst in class) and changed over to my friend, Dan Harrison after 25 minutes. Dan set off, winning outright and a lap ahead in the Pre Modern F1 class. This has made it three years in a row I’ve won the Pre Modern F1 class at the PCRA one hour. My usual rider, Alex Pickett, was racing (and winning) at the Classic TT, so Dan stepped in and did a great job. The entire weekend was a great one with lots of fun and top class post classic racing. A big thanks must go to Link International for the super-fast Pirelli slick tyres and Kenma for the NG discs and SBS Dual Carbon Classic brake pads. Why not get involved? You’ll really enjoy it!

GRIZZLING FROMTHEBEAR

POLITICALLY INCORRECT EDITION

ROLLING FREE

You know it’s funny. What with all the carrying-on about setting a good example these days, we have gone so far as to remove cigarettes from classic movies – you haven’t laughed until you’ve laughed at Humphrey Bogart sticking nothing into his mouth and lighting it.

But of course motorcycling has its moments as well. How about that scene in On Any Sunday where one bloke spears across and nails his buddy? Can’t show that to the kids or they might think it’s the right way to win a race! And best of all, what about Rollie Free? I found this little statuette of him in the National Motorcycle Museum in England. He thought that his clothing was creating too much drag during a world speed record attempt at Bonneville, so he took it all off except for underpants and a bathing cap, smeared himself with grease and had a go that way.

Can we really have kids looking at this and being tempted to imitate Rollie? Tch tch.

TOUGH FRONT

While we’re on the subject of safety clothing, here’s an offering from Dainese that might just end in tears when the

wearer is sued for false advertising. Or is that a sexist comment? Probably. Tch tch.

REAL AUSSIE, MITE

Somehow you would not want to be passed by this Polish Custom bike… but then again, you don’t know what it’s got on the front… probably best to simply be nowhere near it…

What is it with the Europeans and their fascination with Australian names? A new wet pack has been launched with the intriguing (or just plain dumb) name “Brisbane”. Are Brisvegans cleaner than Europeans, and other Australians? Or are they dirtier so they need the soap to be at hand in their very own carrier? Or could this be revenge for “Hamburger”, “Frankfurter” and “Vienna schnitzel”? Fair go, blokes. Blame the Yanks for all those!

WHY WAS SHE BORN SO BEAUTIFUL?

Some people refer to them as the “true” beginning of the big “travel enduros”, an honour more usually awarded to the BMW R 80 G/S. Whatever: thank you, Yamaha, for taking the punt on a big single and for doing it so well!

The Yamaha XT500 has turned 40. Sob! I remember when they came out, and I couldn’t afford to buy one. I would have, too. The “big” XT was pretty much everything I wanted in a bike. I settled for a second-hand XL250 instead (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and to this day have not owned one of these now-classic machines.

Peter ‘The Bear’ Thoeming

“Damn these liquid cooled horses! This one is boiling already!

All right, bears, remember not to speed!

Part No: 08732GLR003

Combo pack including Honda Glare Wash and Honda Glare Professional Polish. The number 1 wash and polish for your motorcycle and ATV.

Part No: 591ml: 087320020B

Cleans an entire motorcycle or ATV in just minutes. Removes dirt, oil, road grime, and insects. Cleans paint, chrome, alloy, and rubber.

Part No: 08C50C321S01

Part No: 082030004

High-temperature formula for heavy-duty or racing applications

Designed for use in all hydraulic brake and clutch systems requiring DOT 3 or 4.

ALWAYS demand

Honda Genuine:

• Oil Filter

• Air Filter

• Spark Plug

Exclusive formula developed by Honda R&D. Specifically designed for use in aluminium engines.

Part No: 1 Litre: L1002HP41312

4 litre: L1002HP41304

• Brake pads/shoes

Chain Cleaner

Part No: 08732CHC00

Prepares chain for re-oiling. Emulsifies and removes dirt, grime & built up grease. Safe on all types of drive chains.

Increased anti-foaming qualities & higher viscosity index for stability over a broader range of temperatures.

Part No: 08732CLM00

Contains Moly and PTFE for superior lubrication. Resists wear and weather for long-lasting lubrication. Compatible with O-ring and non O-ring chains

Part No: 08732SCP00

Cleans road grime, grease, and bugs without water. Polishes paint, chrome, glass, and clear plastic. Protects vinyl, plastic, and rubber.

Part No: 08732CBL49

Part No: 1 Litre: L1002GN41312

4 litre: L1002GN41304

Testing & development give todays GN4 even better shear resistance, viscosity stability & cleanliness.

Removes grease and oil quickly. Cleans brake drums, liners, cylinders, and springs. Safe for most plastics. Dries fast with no residue.

NEWS

LEAVING THE CHAIR

Jon Taylor retires

The sales of Ural outﬁts and the community that goes with a combination like this owes everything to a genuine top bloke, Jon Taylor. Jon has trained many outﬁt riders in this country, including our Stuart, but the time has come for him to pass the baton. Ural continues in Australia under the control of Irbit MotorWorks of America (IMWA), who has agreed to take over the Australian distribution and support its continued growth and success. Ural Australia will remain the front line for the local market with Clare Mailler as General Manager. Clare is highly regarded and is known to just about all Ural riders, having helped Jon build Ural Australia for the past 7 years. We wish Jon the best in his retirement and Claire all the best in her new role.

WELCOME, RALPH

Australian Motorcyclist

Sales Manager

Mal Jarrett, our sales manager who came on board with us only a short time ago has had to leave due to personal reasons. We have not hung about but hired Ralph

Leavsey-Moase, who has extensive experience in the motorcycle industry. He’s been riding on the road since 1972, owned well over 80 motorcycles and ridden road, adventure, dirt… road-raced and travelled overseas. He has been a mechanic, freelance journalist and a rider-trainer, has owned and built up to a successful training, hire and retail business in Sydney and has experience in wholesale as well as retail. So to all advertisers and possible advertisers, Ralph knows how it works - for you. Send him an email at ralph@ausmotorcyclist.com.au to discuss your campaign and take advantage of his background!

streets will be abuzz with ﬁnely dressed gentlefolk upon their classic, custom and vintage style motorcycles, united in their support of men’s health - ‘The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride’ has now been running for four years and grows year upon year. For more information or to join in, visit –www.gentlemansride.com or www.movember.com

REV IT UP

Special Olympics

Australia

Dream Ride Special Olympics

Australia is looking for 1000 motorcyclists to join the inaugural Dream Ride to help raise funds to improve sporting opportunities and celebrate the achievements of Special Olympics.

WIN THIS!

A new helmet from Dririder It’s easy!

Win the newly released Dririder open face helmet courtesy of McLeod Accessories.

Dream Ride 2016 is an exciting day of adventure, experience and motorsport, converging on Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday 4 December from iconic locations. Motorcyclists are riding from starting points at Mount Panorama, Newcastle Harbour foreshore and Parliament House Canberra.

Registration is just $55 per rider with an additional fundraising commitment of $200 to Special Olympics Australia. Everyone interested in participating in Dream Ride 2016 must register to take part at www.dreamride.com.au. Places are limited so if you’re interested, please register now.

SUIT UP

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

On Sunday September 25th 2016,

Just send a photo featuring the cover of the current issue #44 of Australian Motorcyclist either with your motorcycle or captured in an amazing location to our Facebook page or Instagram and in twenty-ﬁve words tell us ‘why you feel good today’. This month’s winner will be advised on our Facebook page on October 20th. Send as many submissions as you like. Now get to it!

TAKE THE CHALLENGE

Burt Munro Challenge 2016

Held over the weekend of 24-27 November, the Burt Munro Challenge has loads of racing action for the avid motorcycling fan. Choose from Hill Climb, Beach Racing, Speedway, Super X, Circuit and Street racing. You can compete or watch with the Burt Munro Rally campsite being the centre of attention day and night. For loads of info visit www.burtmunrochallenge.co.nz 

“ There ’ s a fine line be T ween genius and insani TY . i have erased T his line. ”

OrgasmatrOn!

- Oscar levanT Words s tuart Photos iKapture

Yamaha has erased the same line with the introduction of the ballistic MT-10 to complete the MT range. Based on the current and super powerful R1, this bike had the makings to be something really exciting once the Yamaha engineers gave it the MT treatment. That’s precisely what it is.

Fun, exciting, ballistic, euphoric, insane, berserk, loony, mental, nuts, take any or all of these words and it describes the new Yamaha MT-10. We headed to sunny Queensland for the Aussie launch to ﬁnd out just how good this bad boy is.

Using the 998cc in-line four-cylinder crossplane engine from the latest R1 has not only given the MT-10 an advanced engine. Retuned for the MT-10, immense levels of low to midrange torque and power have been released. To give you an idea of the stratospheric levels of torque and power, the MT-10 is just as loony to ride as the crazy KTM 1290 Superduke R. So what I’m trying to say is that it’s a bike that will keep you smiling for years to come, every time you ride it.

If this level of power is too much for you, you do get three power modes to choose from (Standard, A and B), but beware, even the least powerful mode is still an amazingly fast and berserk setting. If anything, the Standard and B settings give the MT-10 a somewhat smoother throttle, but the insane torque and power are still there, making it an exciting bike to ride no matter what mode you’re in. This has to be the ﬁrst bike I’ve ever ridden that offers various power modes where I’ve loved every one of them – that’s how good the MT-10 is.

To keep things under control a little you do get traction control with three levels and an off setting. Level 1 is for sporty riding and is like having traction control switched off until you really spin up the rear tyre.

One perhaps unexpected feature that’s standard on the MT-10 is cruise control. Yep, you get cruise control that works in 4th, 5th and 6th gears between 50 and 180km/h. Are you wondering why the MT-10 has cruise

And that’s not even trying!

Well laid out and tons of info.

Sweet handling thanks to a short wheelbase and KYB suspension.

Stuart is wearing a Shoei NXR helmet, Segura Retro jacket, Dririder Stealth gloves, Draggin Next Gen jeans and Sidi Vertigo boots. Plenty of buttons, but very easy to use. The mighty Mode button

LAUNCH

“ YOU ’ LL BE THE KING ON HIS THRONE, THE LEADER OF THE PACK, A LORD OF THE VILLAGERS OR SIMPLY, THE ENVY OF ALL YOUR MATES AND ANYONE YOU COME ACROSS ”

control ﬁtted? Well, you might be surprised but it is a really comfy bike to ride and is more than capable of covering big touring kays. You can get genuine accessory bags and a high screen to complement this touring capability, too.

The riding position is roomy, even for a tall fella like me. The tapered handlebar is set nicely with only a small amount of weight on your wrists, allowing comfortable control. The reach to the bar is nice, you sit upright and the seat is comfy. I didn’t got sore throughout the entire 250odd kilometres we did during the launch. The big winner here is the seat to peg distance which gives ample room for any leg length.

A super short 1400mm wheelbase (the most compact in its class) is what gives the MT-10 such an exciting ride. It will loft the front wheel at even a blink’s notice. To put this into perspective, the almost as insane MT-09 has a 1440mm wheelbase, and little brother MT-07 has a 1400mm wheelbase, but it is a much smaller machine overall. What this short wheelbase does is make the handling super quick to turn in. Fitted up the front are fully adjustable KYB forks derived from the R1, and there’s an adjustable KYB shock at the rear. The factory settings are excellent with a neutral/stable feeling and tons of grip when cranking over through corners. The damping is compliant and handles rough roads well, but is ﬁrm enough for smooth, fast sweepers - a great mix for a road bike.

Stopping all of this insanity are the latest radial mounted calipers and 320mm discs. While ABS is ﬁtted standard, I never got it activated as the braking package gives great initial bite

and huge amounts of power. So while the MT-10 is insane while accelerating, it is also a whole load of fun getting hard on the anchors. The bike also has a slipper clutch to help with those fast braking applications. A genuine accessory quick shifter can be ﬁtted, and I’d consider that a must!

Styling has people polarised, going by some of the comments I’ve seen on social media. Yamaha has given the MT-10 a very transformer-like appearance, but once you get to really look over the bike it grows on you. Even the three different colours in which the MT-10 is available – Blue, Grey and Black - give the bike varying appeal. The Blue grew on me; I think it was my favourite because the blue wheels drew me in.

A 12V DC socket comes standard to power up heated grips or a GPS and so on. The complete range of accessories available for the MT-10 could see you setting it up as a bling machine, a performance machine or a well kitted out tourer or indeed a combination of all of them. Only the size of the hole burnt in your wallet will stop you. That’s not to say that accessories are expensive. The panniers are only $646.57 (mounts extra) and the rear rack is $272.82. So you can be quite sensible when kitting out this bike.

There have been rumours of a touring version of the MT-10, but Yamaha has given a straight “no” response to this. Don’t expect them to do what they did with the MT09, creating the Tracer which will be followed by a Tracer version of the MT-07. And really, you don’t need a dedicated touring version when you look at the range of accessories.

I had been hoping that the Yamaha MT-10 would live up to my expectations of a ballistic naked bike and the engineers deserve a huge pat on the back for far exceeding that. It’s extremely versatile and a bike that will continue to make you smile. Get on it and release your inner dark side. You’ll be the King on his throne, the leader of the pack, a lord of the villagers or simply, the envy of all your mates and anyone you come across. 

SPECS

PRICE: $17,999 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled in-line four cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 79 x 50.9mm

DISPLACEMENT: 998cc

COMPRESSION: 12.0:1

POWER: 118kW @ 11,500rpm

TORQUE: 111Nm @ 9000rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 825mm, weight 210kg (wet), fuel capacity 17 litres, wheelbase 1400mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 190/55/ZR/17

FRAME: Aluminium Deltabox

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, single-piston ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A

THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A

COLOURS: Race Blu, Tech Black, Night Fluo

VERDICT: INSANE IN THE BRAIN!

YAMAHA MT-10

WHEN: From Tuesday May 2 – Tuesday 11 July, 2017 (or longer by arrangement with Get Routed)

Cam Donald

Alex Pickett

Dirty DeeDs…

DonE Dirt ChEaP

If you’ve got a motorcycle with a chain, (which a lot of us do) then you’ll know that cleaning the chain is a ﬁlthy dirty job. No-one likes to do it. While it’s not as dirty a job, cleaning your brakes is also very important maintenance that you should be doing. Both dirty deeds will help the performance, riding and longevity of your motorcycle – and there is help out there to make both jobs easier. We grabbed some of the iPone cleaning products and got to work… and still got ﬁlthy dirty in the process. Maybe you can be more careful!

The wonderful guys and girls at iPone also made the job easier by sending their awesome chain brush. They also sent an internal engine clean because you want the internals to be squeaky clean too, right? But let’s get started with the chain. Find yourself a spot where you can lay down some old newspaper

(out of the wind!) and cover up any parts of your motorcycle that you don’t want to cover in gunk. Now start spinning the rear wheel and spraying the iPone Chain Clean onto the chain. It does help if you have an assistant, but it can be done all on your lonesome if need be. Now spray a small section at a time and use the Chain Brush and scrub that bad boy clean as a whistle, while spraying each section with more Chain Clean.

You’ll be surprised at just how clean your chain will be after a couple of rotations of the wheel. Now grab a clean rag and wipe the chain. After this is done leave it for a few minutes, maybe go and clean your hands, and then come back and give the chain a good coating of iPone Chain Lube (I already had a can), making sure you don’t just spray the middle of the chain. You need to get lube into the side parts

of the chain where it’s needed most. While this is a job you’ll hate to do, you’ll love the result – a clean chain that actually spins easily, making gear shifting smoother and saving you money in the long runall dirt cheap. Now move on to the discs. You’d be surprised at how much crap your discs collect. Grab a clean rag, coat the rag with Brake Clean, or spray the Brake Clean direct onto the discs and then spin the wheels with the rag gripping the discs. Spin the wheel around a few times, giving the rag or discs more brake clean if it dries out and now check out how dirty your rag is and you’ll see what I’m talking about! Once front and rear have been done, take your bike for a ride and after a couple of applications you’ll notice improved braking performance – all dirt cheap! Finally, when it comes time to change your oil, run the iPone Engine Clean before you do. Pour the required dose into the engine, run for 15 minutes, then drain the oil. You’ll be shocked at how much junk will come out of your dirty engine internals. Once totally drained, replace with fresh oil and be amazed at how much better your engine performs – all dirt cheap! So, get dirty, get ﬁlthy dirty if necessary, and clean up your motorcycle dirt cheap. You’ll potentially save hundreds, if not thousands in the long run. For iPone products, see your local bike shop or visit www.ﬁceda.com.au . SW =

FLY TO THE BIRDS

OMAKA CLASSIC FIGHTERS

AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLIST MAGAZINE / SOUTH PACIFIC MOTORCYCLE TOURS

We’ve had a lot of requests for our 2017 New Zealand tour and here it is! We’ve picked South Paciﬁc Motorcycle Tours to do our 2017 tour, speciﬁcally because of this distinctive tour they offer – the Omaka Classic Fighters tour. So if you're a 'petrolhead, or have a love of aircraft and classic vehicles of all descriptions, this is the trip of the century for you.

Imagine ...

Wending your way around snowcapped Southern Alps, rivers, lakes, ﬁords, and rainforests, on trafﬁc-free roads full of endless sweeps and bends;

Riding with a great bunch of people, led by an equally great Kiwi motorcycle tour guide, followed by a van for all your luggage; Relaxing in quality hotel/motor lodges for 10 nights with breakfast provided each morning. You’ll have a chance to do some amazing activities like jet-boating up the canyons, whale-watching, helicoptering over the Alps and landing on a glacier (weather permitting) and seeing two fabulous aircraft museums.

If any of that gets you going, you’d better hurry and book your spot! You also get to have Peter “The Bear” Thoeming as your special guest rider.

TOUR BOOKING & DATES…

South Paciﬁc Motorcycle Tours www.motorbiketours.co.nz

Platinum VIP Pass to the fabulous Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow is included!

ofﬁce@motorbiketours.co.nz

Ph: +64 3 312 0066

Skype: ride.nz

Depart - Christchurch Saturday 08 April 2017

Return - Christchurch Monday 17 April 2017

KEY POINTS FOR THE TOUR ... RIDING TIMES: 9am-4pm approx with breaks throughout the day for lunch, coffee, activities etc.

DISTANCE: 2500kms approximately REST OR RIDE: Blenheim for Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow – video: https://youtu.be/ QGwi3ogieNU

RIDER COMPETENCE: For riders with safe motorcycle control in all situations

ROUTE GRADE: 100% asphalt,

some challenging sections, multiple mountain pass switchbacks/hairpins

MOTORCYCLES: South Paciﬁc Motorcycle Tours has late model bikes from various manufacturers for you to choose from, in different sizes to suit all types of riders.

SUPPORT VEHICLE INFO: Tour guide on a motorcycle plus support vehicle with enclosed luggage trailer.

WHERE YOU’LL GO…

10 Day Omaka Classic Fighters Fully Guided AMM Tour - Easter 2017

Arrival Day: Fri 07 April Christchurch

Hotel Check-in and Happy Hour

Day 1: Sat 08 Christchurch to Mount Cook National Park

Day 2: Sun 09 Mount Cook National Park to Queenstown

Day 3: Mon 10 Explore Queenstown/

Queenstown to Wanaka

Day 4: Tue 11 Wanaka to Franz Josef Glacier Village

Day 5: Wed 12 Franz Josef Glacier Village to Punakaiki

Day 6: Thu 13 Punakaiki to Nelson

Day 7: Fri 14 Nelson to Blenheim

Day 8: Sat 15 Spectacular Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow

Day 9: Sun 16 Blenheim to Kaikoura

Day 10: Mon 17 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Does this sound like one of the most amazing trips you could ever do? Well, what are you waiting for! Book NOW to avoid missing out! The Bear is looking forward to helping you have a trip of a lifetime, while enjoying all the sights of land, air and sea that only the South Island of New Zealand can provide. =

biketest

Stuart is wearing a Shoei ADV helmet, Dragon NFX iridium goggles, Held Carese II jacket, Held Sambia gloves, Klim Nak Pak, Held Torno pants and Sidi Crossﬁre 2 boots.

DUCATI MULTISTRADA ENDURO

SERIOUSLY DIRTY

WORDS STUART

PHOTOS NICK WOOD

As Ducati has done with a couple of its models now, it has used the Multistrada as a stepping stone to release a serious challenger into the market; this time, for the adventure touring market in the form of the Multistrada Enduro.

We took the Enduro to some familiar trails so we could really test out whether those clever bofﬁns in Italy have succeeded in what they wanted to do. Short answer – this is a power seeker’s adventure bike, and it performs very well in the dirt.

“ PLAY IN THE DIRT, BECAUSE LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO ALWAYS HAVE CLEAN FINGERNAILS ”

BMW’s R 1200 GS and GSA have long stood on the top step of the podium as the adventure touring machines to take you just about anywhere. They have performed extremely well in extreme conditions. Many other manufacturers have tried to knock BMW off the podium, but nobody has quite got there until now. I think the Ducati Enduro is a serious contender and can take it to the GSA. Let’s have a look why.

There are a couple of major differences over the normal Multistrada that give the Enduro some real Aussie exploring cred. First is the 30 litre fuel capacity. I was quite heavy handed with the throttle out in the dirt but still got around 420km from the tank, so expect to get a little more depending on how you ride.

Second are the 19’’ front and 17’’ rear spoked wheels. They give strength for whatever type of rough trail you’ll come up against. And having the

spokes on the outside of the rim allows for the use of tubeless tyres which will make many adventurers’ lives a lot easier out in the middle of nowhere.

You also get electronic Sachs Skyhook Evolution suspension with 200mm of wheel travel and 205mm of ground clearance (31mm more than the normal Multistrada), which I really tested out over some big boulders along a side trail on my route. I was lucky that the Enduro has a sump guard ﬁtted. That protected the engine from any mishaps while sliding over the top of some of the larger boulders I encountered.

Furthering the already extensive electronics package fitted to the Enduro, Ducati has, for the first time, fitted Vehicle Hold Control (VHC) to aid uphill starts. I tried it a couple of times during my ride and it helps, especially if you’re not 100% confident with some uphill starts. In simple terms, once VHC is activated you don’t need to hold the brakes on when taking off. To activate VHC with the bike at standstill and the sidestand up, apply high pressure on the front or rear brake levers until you see the idiot light glow solid in the instrument panel.

The engine is the same DVT Testastretta big powered beast as ﬁtted to the current Multistrada and

if you want a “lively” bike in the dirt, this will give it to you every time. You do get different engine modes to set, but in the dirt I preferred leaving it in the Touring power mode, which gives a gradual bottom end with full power and torque from the midrange up. This made for a lot of fun high speed sliding on the dirt. Sport power mode was a little too much in the dirt with too much power coming off slow speed turns and Urban and Enduro power modes cut the power too much for my liking.

There is a downside to all this power. You’ll destroy the rear knobby, quick smart. I effectively ﬁnished off a new rear tyre in just over 300km! Not a way to keep the bank balance looking healthy, that’s for sure, but of course you don’t need to ride like me. You can set the engine power mode for each general mode – Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro. Each has speciﬁc settings for suspension, ABS, traction, wheelie control and power. You can also individually set each mode with different ABS, traction, wheelie control

and suspension settings, allowing you to have a mode set just how you like it and depending on the conditions in which you’re riding. For example, I mainly used Touring and Urban throughout my test. I had power, ABS, traction and wheelie control all on the same settings, it was just that the suspension setting was a little ﬁrmer in Touring for bitumen roads and Enduro was set a little softer for the rougher trails. I had Sport set with full power, traction on 1, wheelie control off and ABS on level 2 which was good for spirited riding if I felt the need. However since I had the

Big aluminium side panels will protect the Enduro a little in a fall.

Some gnarly trails tested the big Enduro.

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Enduro ﬁtted with knobby tyres, this was not my objective with this bike – the dirt was.

The Enduro’s handling in the dirt with the Skyhook suspension was excellent. Despite some top heaviness thanks to the massive fuel capacity I found I could push quite hard through corners. While ascending and descending a couple of technical side trails I never felt that the 254kg weight would get out of hand.

On the bitumen, the knobby tyres slowed down turn in from what it would be with a more road orientated tyre, but you could still crank the Enduro at a very nifty pace if you felt like it, even hanging the rear out

sideways for some added fun.

Having the potential to cover big distances, you’ll be happy to know that the seat is very comfy. My only concern is the 870mm height may rule out some shorter riders, but you can get an 850mm accessory seat and a narrower seat, or if you’re tall, an 890mm accessory seat.

As with most of the top level Ducatis, the instrument panel is fully electronic and jam-packed with features. Two 12V DC outlets are ﬁtted for even more electronic devices. But, apart from this wizardry you also get standard cruise control ﬁtted to the Enduro, and you get the amazing cornering LED headlights and cornering ABS

functions, which all contribute to a safer ride.

An adjustable screen is ﬁtted to the Enduro with 60mm of travel. It can be adjusted with one hand, however for those more off-roader types you can get a lower Plexiglass screen, ergonomically better suited to an on-the-pegs standing position. Speaking of standing on the pegs, with the rubber inserts removed there is plenty of grip, although for even more control, a set of Pivot Pegz would be the duck’s guts.

Luggage from the Ducati range can be ﬁtted. This consists of aluminium

Comfy in the stand-up position and easy to control the 254kg weight.

SPECS

DUCATI DVT MULTISTRADA 1200 ENDURO

panniers and topbox or you can ﬁt a wide range of over aftermarket luggage, which might be soft bags if you’re not a fan of the hard cases.

One item from the rest of the range of Ducati accessories, the Handlebar Fanny Pack, was ﬁtted to our test bike. It was invaluable. I kept the Ducati key fob in there, rather than on me and there was space for my wallet/phone to keep them off me and safe in a good location on the bike. This made it easy when I came across a location I liked the look of; I could whip the phone out and take a happy snap. The other beneﬁt is that the pockets seem to be waterproof, although thankfully I didn’t get to try this out by dunking the

Enduro in any creek crossings!

You can also get a wide range of other accessories, and Ducati has put together a range of “packages” called the Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro packs. Buy one, buy two or buy them all depending on what you’re after. Ducati’s engineers have done exactly what they no doubt set out to achieve with the new Multistrada Enduro: produce an adventure touring bike that does all you could ask of it, gives the rider plenty of fun times and can take it to the bike that has reigned supreme for many years. 

PRICE: $29,990 (Red), $30,290 (White or Grey) (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 15,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled L-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, Desmodromic, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 106 x 67.9mm

DISPLACEMENT: 1198.4cc

COMPRESSION: 12.5:1

POWER: 117.7kW @ 9500rpm

TORQUE: 136Nm @ 7500rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 48mm inverted fork, electronically adjustable, travel 200mm. Rear, monoshock, electronically adjustable, travel 200mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 870mm, weight 254kg (wet), fuel capacity 30 litres, wheelbase 1594mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/R19. Rear, 170/60/R17

FRAME: Tubular steel trellis

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial four-piston adjustable ABS calipers. Rear, 265mm disc, dual-piston adjustable ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 7.11 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 421km

COLOURS: Ducati Red, Phantom Grey, Star White Silk

VERDICT: HOLD ON AND GET DIRTY!

Sump guard to save that powerful engine.

Plenty of swtiches and the Fanny Pack is invaluable.

SPAIN IS DIFFERENT*

…AND GREEN SPAIN IS DIFFERENT AGAIN

*Tourism slogan from the 1960s, Manuel Fraga

Standingat Cape Finisterre near the end of this ride, I suddenly realised that back in 1959 I had been quite – maybe even too - close to this point. My parents and I were on our way to Australia as Ten Quid Tourists, and a Force 9 gale from the north-west seemed to be doing its best to keep us in Europe. Or possibly sink us just off Europe. Not for nothing is this called the Costa da Morte, or Death Coast. I was quite happy on the ship. Neither my Father nor I suffered from seasickness, so we had practically the entire dining room and staff as well as the public areas to ourselves. Everyone else was below decks of the tiny MV Flaminia, trying desperately to retain their stomach walls after disposing of the contents.

Ah, happy days.

In a way this voyage through northern Spain was almost as much of a revelation as the trip to Australia had been. Green Spain, this stretch along the southern edge of the Bay of Biscay, looks more like a cross between Ireland and Switzerland than the rest of Spain. It catches the rain off the Bay of Biscay and is truly, amazingly green while it has the most spectacular mountains and gorges; but it still offers the food, drink and hospitality of the Spanish people amid enough variety to make you think you’re crossing half a dozen different countries. Even the language changes quite noticeably from the province of Galicia, where this tour starts, to Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Cantabria and Euskadi – the Basque country.

Arriving in Santiago de Compostela by plane seemed a bit cheeky, in a way. Pilgrims walk to get here from as far as 350km away, following the Path of St James. Completing this on foot or by bicycle supposedly gets you straight into Paradise when you die. Maybe ﬂying in gets you time off for good behaviour… Probably not.

Santiago is one of those towns that only seem to exist in Europe, and even then only in a few places. The old town with its cathedral, stone buildings and narrow streets has been integrated beautifully in the newer settlement that surrounds it, and you can wander around in the past for hours.

Fortunately sanitation has been installed, surreptitiously and invisibly. You do not need to dodge the contents of chamber pots being emptied from upper stories. The Middle Ages are all very well, but modern toilet facilities are just terriﬁc.

On my ﬁrst morning in Santiago, before this tour started, I wandered into Obradoiro Plaza, the cathedral square. I was followed by a group of mounted pilgrims carrying the ﬂags of Brazil, Mexico and Spain, who proceeded to pose for each other’s smart phones in front of the cathedral. There was an accordion player, too, and the whole thing was thoroughly festive. I thought I had been transported into the past, an impression that grew when I walked past a bagpiper piping her bag in a stone archway. Bagpipes, it seems, are not just a Scots – or a bloke’s - thing. Right, the tour. I was signed up for IMTBike’s Green Spain Tour. The company does a lot of tours in Spain itself, as well as Morocco, and has been expanding further into the world. But Spain remains its heartland, and Scott at IMTBike reckoned that when I picked Green Spain I picked the best of their offerings. We would see…

It was looking good when we gathered in the hotel lobby to meet our guide Martin and van driver/photographer Ruben. The group was about evenly split between Spanish- and Englishspeakers (including a couple of unﬂappable Norwegians); Martin and Ruben managed the two languages very happily. Down in the car park I made the acquaintance of my steed for the trip, a BMW F 700 GS. I took the top case off for the ride, and the panniers were more than adequate for my photo gear, rain suit and basic “survival” gear just in case the van with the rest of our luggage was late at any hotel. I have a couple of bags that serve as pannier inner bags; I put the stuff I’m likely to need on the road in one and whatever I might need at night in the other, so I’m always ready to leave the bike pretty quickly at the end of the day. Just grab the bags and go.

Don’t sneer. This helps a lot because it usually means that I’m ﬁrst in the queue to collect the key to my room, and then very quickly in the shower… and ﬁrst

to order a beer at the bar. But enough Bearish rat cunning. Come to think of it, I know there’s a bearcat. Is there a bearrat (or bearat) as well? Thank you, no personal comments.

IMTBike’s tour arrangements are very similar to other operators’, with the major exception that you pick up your own luggage and take it to your room at the end of the day, and then bring it back down in the morning. The van driver does that with most other companies. It’s no big deal; in fact it ensures that your bag gets to your room at the same time as you do.

The first day was, very sensibly, an easy ride. Most of the participants were still recovering from mild jetlag, so an easy run up the freeway and then one of the National Roads (these are generally in excellent condition but have very little traffic) took us to a turnoff onto a terrific back road to A Coruna. Here, Martin led us around the main city traffic and, after a coffee stop, onto another back road. Local knowledge pays, as always, and we avoided not only a 75km stretch of tollway but also found another terrific road instead.

Now, forgive me if I don’t keep lapsing into superlatives about the roads on this tour. They are just about all really good and most are fairly new; rumour has it that the EU (read “the German taxpayer”) coughed up for this. The bad roads are pretty bad, but they are rare and usually just small back roads in the mountains. This tour did not tackle any gravel or dirt roads.

Unlike some tours I’ve been on which focused on culture or food or scenic beauty, the Green Spain tour is a rider’s ride. Martin rode at a fair clip, but obviously had to hold back for some of the slower riders so I pulled my usual trick of stopping to take photos and then catching up with the group – at slightly higher speeds. Radar is becoming a bit of a pest in Spain, I’m told, but we didn’t encounter any. Not that I noticed, anyway… no tickets have arrived in the mail unlike one time in Italy where I received a polite request for 20 Euros some six weeks after the –alleged! – offence.

With the weather looking less than brilliant we took another back road

to our lunch stop and then continued along the clifftops through what seemed like endless corners. The roads were wet but the BMW’s Metzelers proved their value as usual. It felt good to be able to stretch the legs of the F 700, and in these kinds of conditions the bike has no trouble keeping up with its bigger brothers, both GSs and RTs. Set a terrier to catch a badger; set an 800cc twin to deal with wet, tight roads. We had intended to take a look at Cathedral Rocks, a natural feature on the beach, but believe it or not, the place is so popular that we couldn’t ﬁnd parking spots - for the bikes! That was a real taste of what Spain must be like in the tourist season – we were there a bit early, and managed to miss most of the rush.

Our hotel for the night was the ﬁrst of several Paradores we would stay in. Paradores are a network of more

Spain

Despite all the alleged increases in security, border formalities in Spain are still reasonably quick. Italy, for example, is now a complete pain if you’re not on an EU passport. Australians do not need a visa or any other formality. It is strongly recommended that you get an International Driving Permit (see your local Auto Club) so do it; it doesn’t cost the world.

The country uses the Euro and has a fully functioning banking system. ATMs are everywhere. Except in Green Spain, which is where I was, the country generally receives relatively little rain. Much of it is a high plateau, with Madrid sitting in the middle. Most holiday areas are around the edges.

Food is universally good and affordable, and alcohol is affordable and mostly good. I just don’t like the cider. If you want to have picnics, remember that Spain gave us the word “siesta”. Often shops close from 1.30 until 4.30pm.

Once a monastery, now a Parador. Pretty luxurious monastery.

Juggling in the old town of San Sebastian, accompanied by live music.

Martin shows how to pour cider. Some of it lands in the glass.

than 90 state-run Spanish hotels. Don’t let that “state-run” put you off. It’s not like China or Russia. Quality of everything including service is very high. Most Paradores are restored castles, monasteries, convents, fortresses, manor houses or palaces. They are are found in some of the most beautiful corners of Spain, and occasionally, where there wasn’t a convenient old building, a new one was put up.

Our ﬁrst experience of this was the Parador de Ribadeo, a member of the latter class. Although it was clearly a fairly new building it was beautifully equipped and situated, with views over the river. In a way it was a gentle introduction to the Parador concept. The next night would be full-on at the Parador de Canga de Onis. Meanwhile nobody seemed to know what “Canga” meant, and searching the interwebs came up only with a Chinese instrument of torture, resembling the stocks. It is unlikely that there is a connection… I think…

Anyway, an excellent dinner was followed by an equally excellent night’s sleep – it does make sense to get to the start of a tour a day (and more importantly a night!) early to adjust to the time zone, which is what I had done at the suggestion of IMTBike’s Scott. We began the day with one of the infrequent freeway stretches. Most Spanish freeways do no offer divided road – they’re just two-lane tar, but with limited access and reasonably high speed limits. The ride up along the Navia River that followed was another test of the bike and tyres, both of which stood up to the demands… well, if anything probably a bit better than I did. I have to say here that I was riding quite briskly part of the time, and happy to do it. Outrageous fun, especially since there was once again almost no trafﬁc. I’m not surprised that a lot of bears apparently live here. I could, too. A few bicycles did act as moving chicanes, but unlike Australia, Spain does not seem to foster a culture of aggression on the road. We turned east at Grandas de Salime and tackled ﬁrst a mountain pass and then a smooth road along the river and then reservoir of the Rio Narcea. Passing Oviedo, the capital of the

region, we headed for the coast again.

A quick stop at the ﬁshing village of Lastres, and then we turned inland again for Cangas de Onis at the foot of the Picos de Europa mountains.

The Peaks of Europe apparently got their name because they were the ﬁrst sign of Europe that Spanish galleons returning from the New World over the Atlantic would see from the sea… see?

The geology of the northern edge of Spain is seriously complicated, which is reﬂected in the constant changes of landforms. Fortunately for motorcyclists, most of them are rugged. The landforms, not the motorcyclists. Not that they’re not rugged too.

The Parador turned out to be the real thing, a beautifully and sensitively restored monastery which even has internal excavations displayed in a special room or under glass ﬂoors. This really brought home to me how effective and respectful the Parador concept is, using old buildings rather than roping them off and either letting them decay or making them a drain on state ﬁnances because nobody ever bothers to go and see them. Indeed, using the Paradores for accommodation is a bit of a secret weapon for IMTBike; spending every

night in this kind of splendour certainly sets its mark on a tour. On top of that, the Paradores feature outstanding local cuisine; and the beer is always cold and affordable.

I should mention the breakfast, or rather breakfasts. They were all pretty similar, and featured a superb buffet. I just loove Spanish ham, or jamon (pronounced ham-on) and there was always a good supply of that. But there were other delicacies as well, and usually you could order dishes like bacon and eggs or an omelette, included in the room charge. Along with the wonderful crisp bread this was the perfect way to set yourself up for the day.

We headed west along the edge of the Picos de Europa and then turned south through the Hermida Gorge to make our way around the back of the mountains to the south. This was wonderful riding; much better than, say, a lot of the Alps where you essentially get the same curve repeated over and over again. Here, the road was more like a long ribbon that had been thrown carelessly across the countryside making all sorts of loops and corners. Tops – until…

Pilgrims on horses in Compostela –isn’t that cheating?

One of the good things about having a local guide, or at least one who knows the country, is that they can tell you where to go. But another good thing is that they can tell you where not to go. And so Martin stopped us within sight of the Picos, and pointed up. The peaks were wrapped in thick cloud. He shrugged and said, more or less, it’s up to you – but you’re not going to see anything from the top of the cable car that takes you up there. We took his implied advice instead of the cable car and, being careful to not be turned into roadkill by the giant tour buses taking people up to see nothing, turned and spent a bit longer over lunch in the nice little village of Potes. Ah!

“They”, being people who don’t live there, call this small medieval town “the city of three lies”. One, it’s not a holy place; two, it’s not on the plains; and three, it’s not on the ocean. You could add four, it’s not a city. What it is, is a beautifully restored/maintained town with a parador right on the central square opposite the town hall. We took maximum advantage of the romantic enclosed courtyard… actually, I should rephrase that… um. But anyway, a couple of guitars came out and blues coloured the night. Wonderful; just the way you think of the ideal motorcycle trip.

The Spaniards call hairpin corners “paella turns”, and it was good to know

that because there were plenty of them the next morning after we dodged the trafﬁc and busy-ness of Santander. The day’s riding was outstanding, both through the valleys of Cantabria and Euskadi (the Basque country) and along the coast towards Donostia San Sebastian. Despite that, though, it was two places not at all connected with motorcycling that made the day especially memorable. First was Bilbao, where we broke the usual rule of staying out of big population centres and rode right into

A bunch of post-Brexit Poms getting some Spanish sun while they still can.

If I spent too long in Spain I would double in girth. The food is good with a capital “OO”.

the middle to look at the convoluted, metal-clad Guggenheim museum. Looking like a complex mathematical formula made three dimensional, it is well worth a stop and I hope to get back some time. Even the food in its café is good and affordable, an unusual thrill considering what most museums dish up.

Martin pointed out that the museum is even more important than it might seem from looking at it. He said that after it was built, the whole city had pulled its sock up, cleaned itself up and made a real effort to live up to the museum and show its attractive side to tourists and locals alike. Despite intermittent rain I’d have to agree that it is a stylish place.

The other place aroused less cheery feelings. Soon after Bilbao we passed Guernica, now spelt Gernika, a small town ﬁrebombed by German and Italian air force units under the control of Franco’s military during the Spanish Civil War. I used to have a print of Picasso’s famous allegorical painting devoted to this, but I lost it somewhere… and won’t be buying another one. It’s too gruesome. Maybe some of the punks who think it’s so outrageous to have a skull tattooed onto their forearm

should get “Guernica” needled across their backs…

Late in the afternoon we took another small, scenic back road along the ocean and then followed a similar but really small one along clifftops and through forests to the door of our hotel for the night, high above Bahia de la Concha and San Sebastian. Unusually, it was a Mercure, but while it lacked the style and grandeur of the Paradores, it did have that brilliant location. We (sensibly) took a pack of taxis to one of the area’s ciderhouses where we ate, drank and

The Romans didn’t invent the arch, but they invented concrete to hold them together.

Pinxtos, or over-sized tapas. Choose your poison!

Beer comes out of these taps. Good beer, too.

took a tour of cidery things. Sadly, I have to admit that I do not like Euskadi, Cantabrian or Asturian cider. I’m sure it’s highly authentic, but to me it just seems sour. Sorry. Gimme a beer.

Next day was a “rest day”, a motorcycle tour operators’ euphemism for “get off your arse”. While most of them do offer rides on these days, they’re usually in places where walking around is pretty interesting and possibly (actually usually) intoxicating. San Sebastian was no exception. I took the funicular railway down to the waterfront and walked around to the city’s heart. It is like a lot of Spanish and even French towns and cities – a network of square blocks with shops at ground level. This was not shaping up as the “ideal city for walking” that Martin had promoted the night before, but then I crossed a wellkept park and plunged into the old town or “centro historico”. It was still made up of straight streets in an intersecting mesh, but held a combination of tapas or pintxos bars, bookshops, restaurants, speciality shops of various kinds and places selling souvenirs. As per the United Nations Universal Agreement on the Sale of Tourist Crap, each

souvenir shop sold more or less what all the other shops sold and matched prices so closely that an investigator from the Monopolies and Cartels Commission would have died on the spot from sheer anticipation.

I wandered, watched a juggler, listened to a blues and several ﬂamenco bands and just soaked up the atmosphere along with some of the excellent beers (essentially only lager, but tasty) and the vast selection of pintxos. Whenever I could no longer stand, I sat at a table outside one of the bars and consumed a glass of the superb local dry white wine. Well, it seemed superb. I could have been drinking Manildra Overproof Old Still ethanol and would probably still have classed it as superior, at least. When I had really, truly had enough I gently made my way back towards Monte Igualdo, at the top of which the hotel beckoned. While I was wondering vaguely how I was going to get back up there without the funicular – which had long stopped running – I was passed by the IMTBike van. I caught it at the next trafﬁc light and attempted to climb aboard on the driver’s side but was redirected to the other and delivered

safely at the hotel. Service, yes! Unexpectedly lacking a hangover the next morning, I joined our little dusty troupe for the day’s ride on the best roads we had tackled yet. Tracking the border with Navarre, we “dive(d) into the lush green forest” as the IMTBike guide so accurately notes and began a day of riding small, narrow and wonderfully up-and-down back roads. We must have crossed more than half a dozen passes, all with their own character. As with most of the roads we had tackled so far, there was remarkably little trafﬁc considering the quality of the road surfaces. Once again, a big thank you to Germany’s taxpayers and the EU for passing the cash on.

Despite some rain, the ride through Urkiola National Park was beautiful. Martin couldn’t believe his luck when we all rolled up at the Hotel Silken in Vitoria Gasteiz, our overnight stop. We had been trawling through an extensive network of wet and indeed partly ﬂooded roads on our way to the hotel’s underground garage, held up at varying times by trafﬁc lights and unexpected lane changes, but we were all there hale though wet.

Our dinner spot that night, in the old city, reminded me a little of Botin, Ernest Hemingway’s (and my) favourite restaurant in Madrid – before it went all touristy. As a rule on the IMTBike tours you eat at the Parador, if that’s where you’re staying, or at another restaurant that is outstanding or interesting in some way. As you’d expect from Spaniards, they have the quality and variety of the food all sorted… In the morning the rain had cleared, but as we made our way ﬁrst south and then west, heavy clouds weighed down the northern horizon more and more. Martin put it to us at Trespaderne, after a wonderful run along a huge reservoir – did we want to head north into the rain or would we prefer a shorter but dry alternative? He didn’t need to take a vote, and we took a short connecting road to another east-west road which stayed considerably further south. We did the same thing again in Cantabria, where our original route would also have taken us right into heavy rain.

I suspect that there are actually no bad roads in Green Spain, because the alternatives chosen on the hop, so to speak, were brilliant. The only negative

note all day was a wild boar’s head on the wall of our lunch spot. It sneered at us, a cigar in its mouth. But who cares what wild boars think, cigar or no cigar?

Initially I thought the Parador de Cervera, our destination for the day, had something to do with beer. It seems, however, that it’s a matter of cerveza (beer) and cervera (not beer). They had a decent stock of the stuff anyway and we watched a huge local wedding take place as we refreshed ourselves on the terrace overlooking a large forest with a reservoir in the middle.

This Parador is one of the purposebuilt ones, not an ancient building, but as before that didn’t reduce its comfort and style. Mind you, it did look like a vastly overgrown ski chalet. I put in some time at my window looking for the wild boar, deer, wolves and golden eagles that inhabit these nature reserves, along with brown bears. No luck. But hey, there was an adequate supply of brown beer instead…

Incidentally, booze is not covered by the IMTBike tour. But that’s not much of an imposition – ﬁrstly because it is pretty cheap, this being Spain, and second because every day, Martin

would think of a reason for Ruben and himself to shout us a few bottles of wine with dinner.

Another day followed, with another ride over excellent and near-empty roads. Top marks to the Spanish drivers, they don’t seem to take advantage of the lack of trafﬁc, and stay in their own lane. We nearly reached 1500 metres on some of the mountain passes we crossed, but the weather was friendly and the views were terriﬁc. On the way

Declaration of interest

The Bear took the Green Spain tour as a guest of IMTBike. We do not offer positive coverage in return for tours, and it is not expected by the operators. If they screw up, they wear it. Martin and Ruben not only didn’t screw up, they handled potential problems smoothly and effectively.

TRAVEL

towards the Picos de Europa, which we would pass on their southern side, we got some glimpses of their steep peaks, pointing both up and, with their reﬂections in the mirror-still reservoirs, down. We were effectively in mountains the whole day. Just in case I hadn’t mentioned it, the riding was wonderful once again.

Just a quick word on that subject. The daily brieﬁng and route sheets, along with the maps that Martin handed out,

IMT Bike

A large motorcycle touring and rental company, IMTBike has a good range of bikes at its three bases in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga. They offer tours in Spain, Morocco and many other places – see www.imtbike. com or call +34 916 337 222. I found them to be highly professional and well informed.

were quite enough to find your own way. In this case, however, we all stayed in more or less a single group. This consisted of Martin at the front, three or four quick riders with him, then the bulk of the group in two or three small bunches and finally the Norwegians, who obviously liked to take it easy and see the sights. This arrangement varied very little except when I decided I wanted to take photos. Usually I’d go ahead when the whole group stopped, wait for them to catch me and snap away. I would then chase them – and of course that’s where a lot of the fun was. Quite legitimate! I needed the photos, after all. I had been looking forward to Oviedo, our next overnight stop and rest day. I won’t say that I was disappointed, because that wouldn’t be true, but while places like the central park and the markets were terrific, I found the old

part of town severely over-touristy. Such is life, however, or asi es la vida as we old Spain hands would say. I did learn how to pour cider from above my head into – or perhaps I should say nearly into – a glass. The locals say that this is done to aerate the cider. I say it’s so a lot of it misses and they won’t have to

travel

drink so much of the sour stuff. There you go: both of my disappointments on this tour in one paragraph.

To be fair, almost everyone else seemed to like the cider. In small quantities.

I could have gone on the ride to the ﬁshing village of Cudillero, organised for the rest day, but I decided I’d get some work done instead (What work, Bear? – Ed). I do all this for you, you know!

Probably what makes a truly outstanding motorcycle tour is a route that has no major transport stages – only full-on riding days. IMTBike’s Green Spain is one of those, although I suspect that you would get wonderful riding up here if you took any combination of roads. No bull (ah ha ha, forgive the small Spanish play on words). It’s like riding the Oxley for 10 days, ever changing and ever different, with jamon for breakfast and paella for dinner… We took a short stretch of that curious Spanish single-lane freeway before turning off once again into the mountains and through Somiedo Natural Park. After some more of the usual Spanish secondary roads, we slipped away onto a true back road, winding its way up and above one of the many reservoirs. Here the road surface was not the best; in fact it was quite spectacularly bumpy and highly unpredictable. After all the good roads we’d had it was actually fun. Well, almost. The F 700 GS coped pretty well.

The Babia Valley is a confusingly gentle place compared to the rugged mountains all around it, and we crossed it before tackling the mountains again. By now we were back on a smooth, wide highway where we crossed another couple of passes, and it wasn’t long before we reached Montforte de Lemos. Mind you, it seemed to take forever to reach our destination for the day, the Parador de Montforte. It’s an old monastery high up on a hill overlooking the town, and you can see it literally for dozens of kilometres.

This is another of the great old Paradores, with metre-thick walls and… and a swimming pool! It had been a hot day, and the pool proved popular for many of the group. Mind you, places like this can be a bit confusing. I mean, this was a monastery – but my room, or rather apartment, would have been suitable for an Earl or a Count. It was certainly not a “cell”. Did the monks live a rather more luxurious life than we’re led to believe?

The second-last day of the tour dawned sunny again and as we rode down the serpentine road from the Parador I thought I was, by now, ready for anything that Green Spain could throw at me. Wrong, of course. We found a series of vast gorges, carved out over centuries by the Sil River with the sides ﬁlled with vineyards and the road snaking its way through them. The good road didn’t last, and we found another lengthy stretch that could have

done with some attention – but then it was probably a good idea to make us pay some attention to the road for a change!

We stayed in another old Parador that night in Cambados on the Atlantic coast after a mixup where some of the riders missed a turn. That meant lunch was at what amounted to a truck stop instead of the nice café that had been planned. But it was excellent food, and it was really cheap as well.

Serendipity rides again.

We passed the remains of Noah’s Ark, lying in the hills near Ria de Muros y Noia which is named after Noah’s granddaughter. We didn’t seem to have time to stop and have a look, but far be it from me to disbelieve the locals. After all, they’d know if the Ark was lying in their hills or not, right? Right.

Mixed road surface took us out to Cape Finisterre, which is where a pilgrimage very much older than the Santiago de Compostela walk ends, and then criss-crossed the mountains a little before we returned to our start. A ﬁnal dinner in a crowded and entirely authentic local eatery was followed by overnight at the most impressive Parador yet – the Parador Nacional; de Santiago de Compostela. And that was it.

I’m going back, and next time I’m taking Mrs Bear. =

San Sebastian across the bay from our hotel at night.

biketest

Stuart is wearing a Shoei NXR helmet, Dririder Scrambler jacket, BMW

All-round 2 gloves, Draggin jeans and Dririder iRide 2 boots.

TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE R

HAS SPEEDY CHANGED ENOUGH OF ITS STRIPES?

WORDS STUART PHOTOS NICK WOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Triumph’s Speed Triple has a large following worldwide and it has long been in need of a full makeover, not just a bit of an upgrade. Many “purists” cried when the change from the round headlights to the more modern looking tapered headlights was made, but they soon got over it. With the hypernaked class going further and further north in the power stakes, Speedy was in need of some more mumbo to keep pace. Bikes like the KTM 1290 Superduke R, Aprilia Tuono 1100 R, BMW S 1000 R and now the Yamaha MT-10 all have that insane acceleration, whereas Speedy was quick, but lacked the punch in the chest of this crowd.

So is the 2016 version (in this test, the Speed Triple R) enough of an update over the previous model? I lived for a year with the gold coloured version as our long termer, you may remember, so if there’s anyone who can comment on how well the new bike does its job, I should be the one.

At ﬁrst glance, Speedy looks very similar to the outgoing model, but look closer. For 2016, Triumph has made the headlights sexier, set them slightly lower and made them even more modern with daytime running LEDs. The intake between the individual headlights is new and looks

the bomb. It also gives Speedy a nice intake growl on hard acceleration. The R version has many sweet additions over the standard model. Carbon front guard and side panels, belly pan, frame plugs, rear wheel plug and red seat stitching are just some of those.

Cast your eyes downward. The engine case covers now have a crinkle ﬁnish with the Triumph badge ﬂanking each side. The swooping radiator shrouds, sleek tail section, reshaped high-mount silencers and two-part seat contribute to the more assertive look.

One big thing with the old Speedy was how sharp the edges of things like the heel guards and exhaust guards were. Whenever I’d wash our long term Speedy I’d cut my hands – every single time. But when I decided to wash the new Speedy and not one drop of blood to be seen, I had to say – great job, Triumph!

New switchgear has been ﬁtted to Speedy with more buttons to control

more things. They all work as they should, but you’ll also notice that bar-end mirrors are now standard and really make Speedy stand out from the crowd. Just remember to twist them over the way you see in our pics – this makes lane ﬁltering easier.

Triumph has slightly updated the signature instrument cluster that combines an analog tachometer with the info screen displaying the digital speedo, gear indicator, trip computer, fuel gauge, and rider mode. You may also notice the dark grey trim, which was silver previously. It seems to make the blue gear shift indicator lights along the top of the tachometer brighter.

Fly-by-wire is new and I like it on fast acceleration, but at light constant throttle it is a pain. The computer makes the bike hunt along, especially in second gear between 4-5000rpm. Engine power and torque (especially) have been increased but once you ﬁt

the Low Boy Arrow exhaust and K&N air filter we slipped onto ours, there is no real difference. To get to this point, though, Triumph gave Speedy a new combustion chamber, cylinder head, machined crank and piston design, as well as 100 other new components. So if you free up the exhaust (which has redesigned mufflers) and put in a freer flowing air filter, imagine the gain you’ll get from this new bike!

The new fly-by-wire system has allowed Triumph to add a posse of electronic rider aids that bring Speedy into modern times. Five riding modes: Road, Rain, Sport, Track, and Rider mode, which is configurable. Selecting the Road, Sport or Track modes will get you preset throttle-maps, ABS and traction control settings. Choose the configurable Rider mode to customise throttle maps, ABS and traction control settings to suit your riding style and the road conditions.

Speedy also gets a new slipper-assist

More exquisite detail on this R version.

More torque, but is it enough?

Carbon, Brembo and Ohlins –what more could you ask for!

More Ohlins. Ooh!

clutch to make things even smoother, but I want to know where the quickshifter is! Speedy is crying out for it. You can get it on the smaller 675 versions, so why not big brother?

Ohlins suspension is as you would expect – awesome. It did still have that ﬂat rear tyre feeling all Speedies seem to have standard, but giving the rear shock four clicks of rebound made a huge difference and sorted that out. The Ohlins is set up ﬁrm as standard and this makes for high speed fun, which is what the Speedy is all about.

The tank is now 20mm slimmer at the rear and the seating position is slightly more forward. This gives you a little more feeling from the front tyre, and the Pirelli Supercorsa SP tyres give amazing grip.

Braking is another area that has lost some feel, although gaining more power (if that makes sense!). There is a lack of initial bite, which gets the heart pumping at times on such a fast motorcycle. Whether this is

just the pad material I’m not sure. Changing between all the modes made no difference. I must mention that the Speedy we had was the non-ABS version. Most riders won’t notice this lack of bite, but until you’ve lived with a Speedy which had great initial bite as standard, it is noticeably less on the new bike.

I have been critical in the review of the new Speed Triple R. I am hoping Triumph pull their ﬁnger out and release a hypernaked Speedy that gives it to the competition, but at the moment, bikes like the Yamaha MT09, Ducati 1200 Monster and Suzuki GSX-S1000 are the category it sits in. Its task is to run with the big boys. I still love Speedy; that triple cylinder engine is intoxicating, but it’s time to give it the muscle it deserves. Of course if big power isn’t your thing, Speedy will be more than enough for you as a well-rounded enigmatic, composed, and enormously capable naked beast. Especially this R version. 

SPECS

TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE R

PRICE: $20,350 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 12,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled triple cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 79 x 71.4mm

DISPLACEMENT: 1050cc

COMPRESSION: 12.1:1

POWER: 103kW @ 9500rpm

TORQUE: 112Nm @ 7850rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 130mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 825mm, weight 192kg (dry), fuel capacity 15.5 litres, wheelbase 1435mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 190/55/ZR17

FRAME: Aluminium beam twin-spar

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial four-piston switchable ABS calipers. Rear, 255mm disc, dual-piston switchable ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 6.88 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 225km

COLOURS: Matt Graphite, Crystal White

VERDICT: WELL-ROUNDED BEAST

Better shape, more sweet triple tunes.

Even the key has been given some love!

HEADING FOR THE ISLAND

Many of us make the trek down to Phillip Island for the Australian round of MotoGP, which is being held from the 21st to 23rd of October this year, but do you know that there’s a much more scenic route? So turn the usually boring ride into a really

enjoyable one. It might also keep those blue coloured ﬂies off your back (if you get my drift).

MELBOURNE

Being a major city of Australia you can get anything and everything. You

can even buy yourself a new bike and ride it to the Island if you want to! There are a number of motorcycle rental places a short distance from Melbourne airport if you want to get to the Island that way.

www.hemamaps.com.au

Starting out of Melbourne you need to make your way east through Ringwood, Croydon, Mount Evelyn and Seville to Yarra Junction. This is where you need to turn right onto Yarra Junction-Noojee Road and start your way south.

Once you get to the end of this road, turn right onto Main Neerim road and continue south into Drouin. Get yourself onto the Drouin-Korumburra Road and follow it south to Poowong. Jump onto the Loch-Poowong Road, which is right near the roundabout at the pub and follow it all the way to Loch. You might like to leave time to make a visit to the Loch Brewery & Distillery while you’re there, but maybe just for takeaway seeing you’re riding.

Turn left onto Clarence Street, which turns into Loch-Wonthaggi Road and follow it all the way to the end where it meets the Bass Hwy at Dalyston. Turn right and follow the Bass Hwy all the way into San Remo, then Phillip Island to the track.

Alternative route

When you’re on Loch-Wonthaggi Road and you reach Archies Creek, you can turn right onto DalystonGlen Forbes Road, then turn left onto Mill Road a few hundred metres along. Mill road turns into Trew Road, then TurnbullWoolamai Road. Turn right onto Woolamai Road which will take you to Anderson Link Road, which will take you to San Remo – Phillip Island.

Fuel

Fuel spots along the way are at Melbourne and pretty much all the way over to (and including) Yarra Junction. Drouin has fuel, but only an independent United service station and this is pretty much it until you get to San Remo.

Distance

240km via the main route 244km via the alternative route. COLLECT

TEAR-OUT MAP #44

YARRA JUNCTION

Not all that far out of Melbourne is Yarra Junction. A nice little town with basic services. You can get fuel there, but the main attraction if you’ve got time is the Blue Lotus Water Gardenwww.bluelotusfarm.com.au . Didn’t think we noticed that kind of thing, did you?

DROUIN

The town is supposedly named after a Frenchman who invented a chlorination process for the extraction of ore or an Aboriginal word meaning “north wind”, but Drouin is a major town with most amenities available, and not especially windy.

POOWONG

A small dairy town, more of a landmark really for this trip. You do however get pleasant country hospitality at Poowong and with a rich history there are many historic Pioneer sights to be seen. There’s also the

Poowong Hotel if a counter lunch is your go and you’re in need of a cold beverage.

LOCH

The town was named in honour of the Governor of Victoria, Henry Loch, and Loch itself has a number of nice cafes as well as Loch Brewery & Distillery at 42-44 Victoria Road. This is well worth a visit - www. lochbrewery.com.au

DALYSTON

Mostly a landmark for this trip, but get along to the Old Dalyston Deli for some ﬁne treats - www. olddalystondeli.com

BASS

If you take the alternate route you’ll pop out just south of Bass, so this is only a reference for the trip.

SAN REMO

If you love seafood, you’ll love San

Remo! This is a ﬁshing ‘village’ (you might say), and the boats come in from a day or night at sea so that the many places to buy food, including restaurants, can have the catch of the day available. I’ve stayed at Silverwater Resort a number of times, which is only a ten minute trip to the track – www. silverwaterresort.com.au

COWES

The closest town to the track, this is where things tend to get exciting at night. Especially after all the racing is done, most of the riders head into town to party. Probably the most famous place to eat in Cowes is Pino’s Trattoria – www.pinostrattoria.com.au

PHILLIP ISLAND

You’ve arrived! If you’ve never been to the GP circuit you’ll see that it actually looks smaller than it seems to be on the telly. If you get the chance to ride the circuit, then you really get to see how skinny some sections of the track are! 

VICTORY OCTANE

REVERSED ENGINEERING

WORDS/PHOTOS THE BEAR

Quite often, I get a chance to see a bike before most other people do, usually at a show or on a launch. Not so with the Octane; the first time I clapped eyes on this new 1200cc departure for Victory was when I picked the bike up for this road test. So why did it look so familiar? Yes, there is quite a bit of similarity to the Indian Scout. More on that below. But it wasn’t that. It was… ah, I have it. In my collection of letterpress dinkuses (simple pictures used to liven up printed pages before modern techniques) there is a silhouette image of a bloke on a bike, sitting upright with his arms spread wide on the handlebar, a straight pipe in his mouth and a flat cap on his head. The bike looks a lot like an Octane, even though it’s an outline so you can’t see details. And the only way to describe the bloke is “jaunty”. It’s a terrific little image. And I feel a lot like that when I’m riding the Octane. I even have one of those pipes, despite the fact that I gave up smoking the things some decades ago.

A lot of motorcycle manufacturers have looked back at their history and created new bikes to bring it back to life. Most have been highly successful; just look at Triumph’s Bonnevilles or Ducati’s Scramblers. Harley-Davidson has been milking this particular idea for decades, and has produced some outstanding bikes – especially Sportsters. Indian has done it with almost all of its range. You could be forgiven for wondering what Victory could do along these lines, seeing that the marque is just old enough to vote,

let alone to have an historic look or style. Well, never underestimate the good folks in Medina, Minnesota. What I think they’ve done with the Octane’s styling is use a generic motorcycle look from the 1920s. Just compare, say, a HarleyDavidson Model JH from 1928. I’m not suggesting that Victory is copying Harley; there are many contemporaneous bikes from other manufacturers which share that look. The point is that it looks good, with just enough of a respectful nod to the past to create an individual and recognisable stripped-back style without ever really looking like a copy of anything else.

And there are nice touches: the deep and glossy paint on the handlebar and its ﬁ ttings replicates the look of older bikes, while the dynamic little nick out of the bottom of the tank is, as far as I know, totally new and unique. And of course that touch of déjà vu is not all that the bike’s styling is meant to evoke; it’s also meant to look fast. So it has the little fairing, footpegs instead of running boards and that impressive paint job that pulls the bike out from the crowd. And so to that family resemblance to the Indian Scout. Polaris, the parent company of both Victory and Indian is not at all reticent about admitting that about a third of parts are interchangeable and that there is a clear relationship between the engines. The Octane is powered by a new 1179cc V twin closely related to the 1133cc engine of the Indian Scout. It has 2mm larger bore, and redline is up at 8,300rpm. Engine castings are new too. I can’t see a problem there; the history of bike platforms serving “different” bikes with the same or different badges is long in the industry; see Honda’s current 500cc bikes, and remember the Royal Enﬁ eld “Indians” of yore. In this case the resemblance is less than in some others, and the manufacturer is perfectly open about the bike being a “platform” design. Nobody is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

I ﬁ nd the relationship between these two bikes much more interesting than the fact of their existence. In America there has been speculation that it was actually Victory that developed the engine in the ﬁ rst place and then “lent” it to Indian to make the most of the interest in the revived marque with the Scout. That loan was then reversed to launch the Octane, rather than the Victory being a reverseengineered Indian. And no, they don’t have reverse!

What matters in the end is whether the Octane is a good bike with enough individuality to create its own demand. Going by my experience it is. The bike handles extraordinarily well considering it has that old-world cruiser look. Steering is light and there is a fair bit of ground clearance. The extra power and torque over the Scout also makes it noticeably nippier and ﬂ exible both in trafﬁ c and on the open road. You get a bit of that Project 156 race bike heritage. The catchcry Modern American Muscle is quite appropriate. The bike will also pull well from 1200rpm in sixth. While the clutch is quite stiff, the gears are positive. The seat is low, and there is a double seat with pegs on the accessory list to enable the bike to carry a pillion; plus a lot of other bits including repositioned controls, different seats, luggage racks and so on.

On the subject of accessories: the bike I rode had the $1310 Victory aftermarket slip-on pipes on it. I just loved those with their reﬁ ned deep bellow when called on to perform. Combine that with the equally deep grumble and roar of the engine and you’ve got a bike that you’ll rev just to hear the noise. If you buy an Octane, get the pipes with it.

And so, talking of pipes, I ride off on the Victory Octane on a jaunty weekend outing, my Peterson Rosslare Royal Irish 120 clamped between my teeth (but unlit because I don’t smoke any more)… does anyone know of a ﬂ at cap that meets UN ECE22.05? 

SPECS

VICTORY OCTANE

PRICE: $18,995 (ride away)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 8000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled 60 degree V-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 101 x 73.6mm

DISPLACEMENT: 1179cc

COMPRESSION: 10.8:1

POWER: 77kW @ 8000rpm

TORQUE: 103Nm @ 6000rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multiplate clutch, belt ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 41mm telescopic fork, non-adjustable, travel 119mm. Rear, twin shocks, adjustable preload, travel 76mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 657mm (laden), weight 242kg (dry), fuel capacity 12.8 litres, wheelbase 1577mm

TYRES: Front, 130/70/18. Rear, 160/70/17

FRAME: Aluminium castings with tubular steel backbone

BRAKES: Front, 298mm disc with two-piston caliper. Rear, 298mm disc, single piston caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.4 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 231km

COLOURS: Metallic contoured grey

Go away

Compiled by Stuart

Yes, we want you to go away… on your motorcycle! And, there’s something that you’ll need to make this rather more pleasant – luggage. Yep, you won’t be going away for very long if you don’t have anywhere to carry your essentials and smart, well designed luggage that ﬁts your speciﬁc purpose is the way to go.

We’ve compiled the latest luggage available from a wide range of distributors so you know what’s out there, and you can choose just the right luggage for your travels.

CTA AUSTRALIA www.ctaaustralia.com.au

BAGSTER BAGLOCKER

TANK BAG - FROM $159.95

Bagster has launched a new motorcycle tank bag called Baglocker. This new system attaches a bike-speciﬁc ﬁtting kit directly to your petrol cap. You are then able to attach the new Bagster Baglocker tank bag, which is available in two sizes6 and 12 litres.

The bag is kept securely on the tank, and does not require magnets or straps to hold it, things that can mark or scratch motorcycle paintwork. The Baglocker comes with a pocket to hold your

Pics: Bikes of Burden. Hans Kemp

smartphone, an inside pocket, shoulder straps and rain cover and the bag is light reﬂective.

BAGSTER MISSIL

BACKPACK - $219.95

Bagster is also introducing the new Missil backpack with a rigid pre-formed 3D protective cover. Practical, this rucksack is ideal for transporting a laptop and a tablet in speciﬁcally-designed pockets with fast opening. With its 3D thermo-formed carbon-look front, this ergonomic rucksack of 8 litres’ capacity has multiple inside pockets for storing separate items as well as an ergonomic and comfortable straps and comes with a rain cover.

BAGSTER RALLY SPORT PANNIERS - $399.95 (pair)

New from Bagster are the new Rally saddlebags with their 3D Thermoformed protective cowl for motorcycles with a high exhaust pipe. The simple design means that this bag can be adapted to most motorcycles. The bags have 12-18 litre capacity each side thanks to an extending zip. You also get a strap for carrying on your shoulder, carry handles, elasticated support inside, reﬂective anthracite piping, Bagster printed inner lining and a rain cover stored in a dedicated pocket.

KENMA www.kenma.com.au

VENTURA BONNEVILLE PANNIER SYSTEM - $349 - $399

Many soft luggage systems have straps that hang over seats, can slide down and get caught on exhausts or worse, in the rear wheel. The new soft Pannier System

from Ventura elegantly makes those hassles a thing of the past.

This new system features two large 24 litre bags that slide onto the specially designed racks available for a number of bikes as a standalone fitment and in some cases can be used to complement an existing Bike-Pack System. The panniers are quick to fit and feature a unique sleeve that ensures the luggage is held firmly in place.

COOCASE TOP BOX RANGE –FROM $105 - $339

Coocase is an exciting new range of top

boxes (yes, top boxes can be exciting!) now available in Australia. They have great features and are easy to use. All models feature manual locking and a base plate. Luxury models add LED brake lights, keyless entry via remote, and a theft-deterring alarm system, setting the Coocase above and beyond other top cases. Padded inserts and backrests are available and complete kits with mounting system will ﬁt more than 1000 bikes.

Tank bags are the go if you like your motorcycle luggage in front of you and central. Ventura has a range of motorcycle tank bags in various sizes.

VENTURA TANK BAGS - $99 - $119

Pfft! You think you’ve got hard panniers! Mine are 5mm thick!

The range uses silicone suction caps for a secure ﬁt to your tank and has an array of useful features including closed cell foam padding on the bases to protect your tank.

The Jarama ($99) uses four of the highest quality silicon suction cups available to secure the bag to a petrol tank made of any material be it steel, alloy, carbon or plastic. It has 3 litres’ capacity and comes in black.

The Snetterton ($109) has 6 litres’ capacity and is also a suction attachment design for those small but important items we cart around. It has a carry handle and shoulder strap and comes in black.

The Suki-Moto is the latest tank-bag from Ventura. The Suki-Moto ($119) has 9 litres’ capacity and also attaches with suction caps. It is quite unique in its design and functionality. It has a carry handle, shoulder strap and storm cover. The Suki-Moto comes in black.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON www.h-d.com.au or your local dealer

Harley-Davidson Premium Touring Luggage features everything you ever wanted in a bag and more. Sewn from superior heavy-weight ballistic nylon, these sturdy bags will maintain their shape and protect your belongings over the long haul and are tastefully styled to

feel at home when carried into a nice hotel. The bags feature large exterior pockets with glove-friendly, ergonomically contoured zipper pulls and an oversize custom handle.

The innovative spandex mounting pocket makes installation and removal a simple process. Just slip the smooth, low-proﬁle band over the passenger backrest for a snug and secure ﬁt and cinch the bag in place with the adjustable mounting straps.

TOURING BAG - $323.76

This premium touring bag is ideal for a long weekend trip, but expands an additional 4” when you need to store a few extras.

OVERNIGHT BAG - $211.12

The overnight bag is ideal for the shorter trip, and conveniently mounts to either your Tour-Pak luggage rack or Sissy Bar upright.

DAY BAG - $154.80

The compact day bag is perfect for the daily work commute.

TOURATECH www.touratech.com.au

TOURATECH WATERPROOF ADVENTURE

RACK-PACK – FROM $174

For many years and over countless miles, the original Ortlieb Rack-Pack

has been the essential companion and now, together with Ortlieb’s developers, Touratech has succeeded in making the classic Rack-Pack even better.

The absolutely waterproof, dust-proof, mud-proof, snow-proof and sand-proof dry bag by Touratech is a strong bag that has a large transverse roll closure which enables you to see all the equipment clearly.

TOURATECH MOTO SIDE BAG - $264

This high performance 28 litre single bag is made of abrasion resistant waterproof fabric for left or right side mounting. QL2 is a synonym for ﬂexibility and mobility: automatic closing and opening of the hooks by lifting the bag’s handle. The waterproof roll closure protects documents, luggage and sports gear from water, dust and dirt. A padded handle and shoulder strap make carrying comfortable.

ZEGA PRO INNER LINER - $99.99

Touratech is now supplying specially designed inner bags for all Touratech case systems, manufactured by Ortlieb to their well-known high standard. The valve ﬁtted to the top enables you to squeeze out the last remaining air when rolling the bag together; this allows the bag to ﬁt your case, topcase, rucksack, leather bag, etc. without losing

valuable storage space.

The proven Ortlieb roll zipper and the robust, 100% waterproof material also enable the bag to be ﬁtted universally to the case, the luggage carrier or the passenger seat. Volume: approx. 50 litres.

BMW MOTORRAD

www.bmwmotorrad.com.au or your local dealer

With the ever popular R nine T and the about to be released R nine T Scrambler, the need to carry your gear - whether you are just riding around town or doing a road trip interstate - is obvious. BMW Motorrad has you covered for both, with the all new Tank Bag and Rear Bag, both featuring a water-repellent canvas outer and a waterproof main compartment to keep your gear dry and safe.

TANK RUCKSACK - $475

Practical and stylish in one – this waterproof tank bag made of canvas provides 11 litres of storage space with great features. The base plate has an antislip coating and opening for the fuel ﬁller cap.

REAR SOFTBAG - $525

Going on a journey – the waterproof rear softbag made of canvas provides plenty of luggage space at 40 litres. The bag also has 2 patch-type side pockets, equally water-repellent, a shoulder strap (removable, adjustable, padded) and

carry handle and 2 adjustable belts for adjusting volume and for strapping extra luggage to the outside of the bag.

HELD BIKER FASHION

www.heldaustralia.com.au

CARRY

BAG - $70 - $90

This awesome PVC coated (100% tarpaulin) roll carry bag from Held is 100% water and dust proof, featuring welded seams, carry handle, adjustable roll-fastener, detachable shoulder straps and reﬂective print. Available in two sizes – 30 litre or 60 litre - and three colours - black-white, black-ﬂuorescent yellow, white-red.

KWIO

BACKPACK - $70

A great everyday backpack for your commuting and general riding. Made from 100% polyester (waterrepellent PVC coating) and ﬁtted with a built-in rain cover this 17 litre backpack comes with padded shoulder straps and a waist strap; mesh side pockets; internal organiser pocket; cable ducts for navigation system, headset etc; and one external pocket. Three colours to choose from - black, burgundy, grey.

DAINESE www.cassons.com.au

D-DAKAR HYDRATION

BACKPACK$199.95

Made by Ogio for Dainese, the 9.4 litre D-Dakar is a backpack for uncompromising travellers and adventure touring. With its large 3 litre hydration bag you will be able to take on any adventure and with two external side pockets, large internal compartment and two stretch mesh pockets you can also carry a lot of gear with you. For comfort there’s a raised air mesh POD back panel which directs cooling airﬂow down the body and ergonomically padded air mesh shoulder straps for wicking away moisture. Another great feature is the clear TPU window for displaying ID or route map.

D-RIG WHEELED

BAG - $449.95

If you’re travelling interstate or internationally for your riding pleasures you’ll need a way to carry your riding gear and day-to-day clothes – the D-Rig is the answer. Featuring a massive 123 litre capacity and separate compartments for helmet (padded), boots and other bits and pieces, this is the bag to have. Not to mention the integrated foam padding of the entire bag to protect your gear!

D-TAIL MOTORCYCLE BAG - $179.95

This tail/seat bag has a 20.9 litre capacity and a deluxe main compartment with 240 cubic inches of expansion volume. Its sleek streamlined air ﬂow surface design will look the goods on any motorcycle and with a top organiser pocket, dual moulded side accessory pockets, integrated hidden rain hood, reinforced textured neoprene non-slip

COOCASE TOPCASES AVAILABLE IN

CHOOSE THE FEATURES TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS

H Keyless entry via remote control

H LED brakelights

H Integrated security alarm

H Auto-lock feature

H Includes quick-release mount for existing luggage racks

THE ULTIMATE LUGGAGE SOLUTION

pad for paint protection, universal web mounting system for secure attachment and an easy grab reinforced handle the D-Tail has the features you’re looking for.

TM MOTORCYCLE LUGGAGE

www.cassons.com.au

ROUTE 66 THROW OVER SADDLEBAGS - $199.95

These throwover saddlebags can be mounted under or over the pillion seat and are adjustable to ﬁt almost any motorcycle. No mounting brackets or supports are needed and the bags have 40 litres’ capacity (each bag), expandable out to 51 litres each. Features include expandable drink holders, external and internal pockets, expandable main luggage compartment, semi-rigid construction for shape retention and durability and you also get rain covers and adjustable straps.

TOOL BAG - $29.95

Classic chrome buckle design, yet opens and closes easily with simple clip system,

this 25cm long x 9cm wide x 13cm high tool bag can be mounted on the lower triple tree, handlebars or fork tubes (above lower triple tree) using the mounting straps provided. Made from tough, durable synthetic leather.

SADDLEBAGS BOX LID - $139.95

Classic chrome buckle design for looks but they open and close easily with simple lockable clip system. The stylish riveted durable synthetic leather and leather stitched edging on the lids of the saddlebags makes them a great choice for most cruiser motorcycles. They measure 35cm long x 13cm wide x 27cm high (each bag) and are adjustable for width for different size fenders. They’re designed to go either under or over the seat.

TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES

www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au or your local dealer

NYLON SPORTS PANNIERS - $375

Designed for the new Modern Classics, these 30 litre panniers have a showerproof enclosure and they come complete with custom mounting racks and a quick release harness for ease of use, made to ﬁt seamlessly with each modelStreet Twin, Bonneville T120, Thruxton and Thruxton R.

NYLON TANK BAGS - $155 - $172.85

Big enough to hold the essentials and styled to mould to the contours of your classic bike, Triumph’s tank bag varieties are perfect for wet weather gear, ﬁrst aid or a change of clothes. Convenience for your modern classic. $155 bag suits Street Twin, T120; $172.85 bag suits Thruxton and Thruxton R. Pic 25

10L NYLON DRY BAG - $29.95

If the ride takes you through more than showers, upgrade the waterprooﬁng of your luggage with this 10L duffel. Made from 40D, 240T ripstop Nylon, it will ensure that your items arrive dry and ready for use – on or off the bike.

RJAYS www.rjays.com.au

MAGNETIC WEEKENDER TANK BAG - $79.95

Main luggage area has enough room to fate the requirements for an overnight stay, this tank bag from Rjays has six super strong magnets and non-slip

rubber in the base, 2 zippered side pockets, 1 zippered map pocket, carry handle and removable shoulder strap, rain cover and a single point quick release steering head safety strap.

SUPER TOP BOX - $119.95

39 litre capacity heavy duty ABS plastic top box with large reﬂective panels, super heavy duty reinforced steel base plate, built in back rest and both lockable and able to be locked to its base plate.

HIGHWAY SISSY BAR/SEAT BAG - $159.95

Made from super heavy duty ballistic nylon this large seat bag has an

expandable top which expands 70mm and expandable side pockets which expand 70mm, making this the sissy bar/seat bag for many days’ travel. You also get an expandable and removable front pocket which expands 70mm, along with a pull out rain cover, padded shoulder strap, top carry handle, Velcro adjustment straps for sissy bar and occy straps on the bottom for attaching to the seat.

www.kuryakyn.com

PET PALACE - $219.99US

Finally, a way to carry Rover or the cat. Kuryakyn’s Pet Palace is equipped with more features than you can shake a stick at. The ultimate home-away-from home for biker dogs or cats weighing up to 20 lbs. has an internal frame for support, faux fur comfort liner, built-in leash, food/water dish, large storage compartments and four mesh windows for viewing and ventilation.

provides ideal mounting on virtually any passenger seat or luggage rack. Includes padded interior electronics pockets and multiple compartments for a variety of organised packing options. Features durable thermoformed construction from 1200 denier Maxtura material.

XKURSION XW5.5 ROLLER BAG - $349.99US

The monster XW5.5 features a removable divider that separates the main compartment into two unique packing spaces, each with its own access point. Includes interior padded pockets in multiple sizes for a variety of electronics, including a laptop up to 17”, wheels and a retractable handle for easy transport off the bike, and a removable coat/bed roll ﬂap.

BM MOTORCYCLES www.bmmotorcycles.com.au

WIDE RANGE OF LUGGAGE

SEAT/RACK BAG$189.99US

The XKürsion XTR1.5 is perfect for weekend getaways or everyday commuters. A contoured bottom and removable base pad

BM Motorcycles are handy for Melburnians in Ringwood. They stock a wide range of brands for all your luggage needs. Try top quality equipment from Touratech, Kriega, Givi, Camelbak, SW Motech, Hepco and Becker and more! If they don’t have it and you want it, they’ll get it. A professional, reliable and friendly service is what you’ll get from all of the guys and girls at BM Motorcycles. They want you to

XKURSION XTR1.5

The new way to carry vodka to the rally.

enjoy your riding, and setting up your luggage is one of the major steps.

DRIRIDER www.dririder.com.au

MESSENGER BAG BLACK - $89.95

Made from Jacquard 600D with water repellent treatment with the interior lining made from 210D with waterproof seal to protect against the weather. Other features include a large main compartment with roll top closure, pockets with waterproof zips, shoulder strap, carry handle - and it can be worn as a back pack.

URBAN BACK

PACK - $99.95

24 litre backpack made from Jacquard 600D with water repellent treatment and with the interior lining made from 210D with waterproof seal to protect your gear from the weather. Other features include a large main compartment with waterproof zipper, outer pockets with waterproof zips, quick release buckle on side which lets you attach your helmet when you’re off the bike, chest and waist straps and reﬂective tape for night time visibility.

MESSENGER BAG GREY - $89.95

With the same features as the black version, the difference is that the Messenger Bag Grey is made from Oxford 300D, still with the water repellent treatment and 210D interior lining with waterproof seal

ANDY STRAPZ www.andystrapz.com

STUFF SAKZ - $92 plus postage

Simply, Andy created a 100% waterproof stuff bag that has two tops and no bottom! Gear can be accessed while it is strapped in place and the bag can be re-sealed quickly. Ideally suited to keeping gear dry until the end of a soggy day on the road. Constructed of heavy PVC truck side fabric (most people know it as Tautliner) with a welded seam. Available in Black, Grey and Orange and made in Australia.

AVDURO PANNIERZ - $425 or $495 when bundled with a pair of Liners and 1250 Flat Strapz

After ﬁve years of listening and two years of trialling and testing, Avduro Pannierz are ready for release. While the architecture of the Pannierz hasn’t changed, the way they secure to the support frames has. There are four added elements to achieve this. Now that Andy has added tension relieving double D ring sets along the

sides and across the back, the bags resist the harsh banging and crashing relentless corrugations deal out. A new wider rear, base strap and low proﬁle “ladder lock” fastener is more crash friendly than the original Expedition Pannierz.

The stitch pattern on the bottle pockets has been changed to allow straps to be slid behind the contents of the pockets and holding across the “belly” of the bags. Finally, a set of double Dees have been added to the rear top to hold the bag back closer to the bike. Only available in ‘Four Pocket’ style.

TANK BAGZ - $255

This was initially designed for bikes with plastic and alloy tanks, but it became pretty obvious that Andy had a good all-round tank bag with this. The bag itself is scalloped to reduce contact with the horn and starter button at full lock, the lid opens 180 degrees and there’s a bit of colour on the base to ensure that things don’t get lost in a black void.

The stand out feature is the design. Refuelling is a one-touch system, it has no rattle zips, padded sides and base and it converts to a handy backpack in seconds.

Andy’s unique stretch harness will fit almost any bike - it is truly a universal fit. Supplied with 4 flat stainless steel strips enclosed in webbing to be bent to a shape to best fit each bike and 2 straps with loops at the end to slip over subframes gives each rider heaps of attachment options. Oh, and it can also easily be used as a tailpack.

SUZUKI www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au or your local dealer

TANK BAGS – 5-9 litre $290. 11-15 litre $490

These durable nylon Suzuki Genuine tank bags afﬁx to the tank with a snapon ring and can be removed easily with a simple pull of the release cord. Both bags expand from 5 to 9 litre and 11 to 15 litres (optional map case $43) and include a rain cover and shoulder strap. Suitable for L2-L6 GSX-S1000 models, new SV and V-Strom 650 and 1000.

DUCATI www.ducati.com.au or your local dealer

CORSE BACKPACK - $79.99

The Ducati Corse backpack has a removable helmet bag, three practical outside pockets and one inside pocket.

Comfortable and functional thanks to padded, ergonomic shoulder straps and side pocket, it’s perfect for trips out on the bike or simply for everyday use.

CORSE GYM BAG - $115.98

Practical and sporty, the Ducati Corse gym bag has three outside pockets, one inside pocket and reflective inserts. The rubber (PVC) Ducati Corse logo and white, red

and black colours add a touch of racing style to this accessory.

CABIN BAG - $195.99

For unique, distinctive style even when travelling, the Cabin trolley bag is the perfect piece of luggage. Equipped with a practical outer and inner pocket, this piece of hand luggage is sized to conform with cabin baggage regulations (40x55x20cm). In 100% polyester, it bears Ducati customisations on the front and sides with plastisol prints. =

Steady as she goes!

Park Hotel

WOWSERS, BOWSERS AND PEPPER TREES

So anyway, study the family tree of our current nanny state with its overprotective super litigious overlegislated paternalism and you’ll ﬁnd not too many generations prior, the Wowsers.

Almost exclusively Christian, mostly Protestant and usually Methodist, these killjoys saw paganism and ruin in pretty much every enjoyable pastime

around the turn of the 19th century.

They were against, well everything: drinking, mixed dancing, unmixed dancing, gambling, sexual enjoyment, ‘adult themes’….you name it. But it was their Temperance Movement with its campaigns against drinking and pubs that inﬂicted the most lasting scars on our national corpus.

Now only the dinosaurs like Fred

Nile and the Family First Party remain and most places where they once reigned seem happy enough to be rid of them, their memory and their restrictive legacy.

Except, that is, for Ariah Park down on the Burley Grifﬁn Way west of Temora, which celebrates its connections to the do-gooders of its past.

ARIAH PARK HOTEL, NSW WORDS/PHOTOS COLIN WHELAN

PUBOFTHEMONTH

It was a stinking day, the ﬁrst time I rocked up here but the century-old peppercorn trees down the middle of the main drag had welcome shade so I parked the Super Ten under one of ’em and took a walk.

Ariah Park has a special aura. You know the way you automatically lower your voice in an art gallery or a museum? Well Ariah Park’s a bit like that. It’s a place you immediately treat with respect and deference.

The peppercorns, the shop verandas, the restored petrol pumps, the old photos in so many windows all add up. It was too early for the pub to be serving but the door was unlocked so I went in and found Brian in the ofﬁce.

Comfy and inviting

Ariah Park is about the friendliest town I’ve been in for a while. Very hard to pass a local in the street without a chin wag, and the hotel is an extension of this.

It’s comfortable and homely, relaxed and welcoming. In the cold of winter it’s warm and inviting. In summer its east facing beer garden is a massive, beautiful shady oasis.

You can have a couple of beers, dinner with dessert, a sleep in a clean comfortable bed, then cereal and coffee in the morning and you’ll have change from a Jolly Green Giant.

And speakin’ of hundreds, every ten years Ariah Park celebrates a centenary of something. It’s an idea of the vibrant group who run the progress association, driven by people like Bill and Nigel Judd another local historian and author. Against a backdrop of businesses in villages all around going belly up, Ariah Park’s just got a new café and mini-mart. The main street is being re-landscaped and the optimism is tangible.

The pub’s a reﬂection of all this. It just missed getting four helmets on our scale but its value rating was over 200 and for unique character it got 4 out of 5.

Opening hours are from 4pm Monday and Tuesday and from eleven the rest of the week. Closing is when you and your mates stop drinking.

Sure it was okay to have a gander. Make yourself at home. I took a couple of shots, thanked him and said I’d return.

Last month the Australian Yard Dog Championships were on in West Wyalong so after a day watching the amazing skills of these mainly kelpies running on the backs of sheep, I zipped back down to Ariah Park for the night.

It’s Friday night and Brian’s behind the bar. He exudes taciturn good humour, a wry smile and quiet, wellchosen words.

Brian’s had a lifetime of managing bowling clubs and moved to town in 2005, hoping the climate would suit his wife who wasn’t doing too great. Sadly it wasn’t to be and she passed away a coupla years later but Brian was joined by his two daughters and sonin-law Wayne who arrives while we’re chatting and takes over behind the bar. There’s six beers on tap and a schoonie of XXXX will set you back 5 bucks which is the cheapest I know, but don’t go looking for pokies or TAB or Keno. This is one of the growing band of country pubs where focus is on actually chatting, talking, sharing news and stories. You know…..like the old days!

There’s bike parking around the back, some of it under cover and there’s also one of the best beer gardens you’re ever going to see.

Upstairs there’re ﬁfteen rooms each costing 60 bucks a night. There’s 8 doubles, 5 queens, a couple of twins and one with three single beds. All are neat as a pin and every bed has an electric blanket. The guest lounge is a real beauty: Probably the biggest I’ve come across and there’s all the makings for brekkie and a brew in the morning.

The panelling and tile work around the place is amazing. This time around the ‘randa was out of bounds as Brian pours money into restoring it. All the iron lacework has been carefully removed for painting before it’s

returned. Should make the place amazing.

Wendy and Cheryl run the restaurant and their menu’s pretty standard country fare with steaks, battered ﬁsh, a deep fried seafood platter and of course my lamb shanks (for just 18 bucks). Keep space for the homemade sticky date!

I’m almost done with my interrogation in the bar of Brian when Wendy turns up with my lamb shanks so I tell the boss I’ll be back later and follow my dinner into the dining room.

A couple of mouthfuls in and Bill Speirs turns up. Bill’s a local farmer, lay preacher and an author who’s done half a dozen books on local history. I buy him a beer and he sits himself down. The stories come from him as easily as the meat from my shank.

The original town site was a bit to the north on the Mirrool Creek at the intersection of the Wagga Wagga – Condoblin and the Narranderra –Young TSR’s. The ﬁrst pub up there was the Beehive which was owned at one stage by Mary Gilmore’s old man but it was ﬂood prone.

When the railway from Sydney to Cootamundra was extended to Temora and on to Roto, the settlement moved south in 1906. Ariah Park was gazetted a year later and had its own biblical ﬂood: waves of religious farming families who’d been broken by the poor sandy soils of Victoria’s Wimmera.

Some of these farming families were Catholic, some Methodist, others Anglican and the rest were Baptist. One brand, just different models.

The ﬁrst pub at Ariah Park opened in 1907 but four years later it was proving too small so the current one was built in 1914, and it hasn’t changed much in the last 102 years.

These folks around here are early adopters, have been for a while. The ﬁrst shipment of bulk wheat was loaded into a tarp lined wagon at Ariah Park in 1916 and sent to Sydney. It went well and the place went crazy. It was a total success and Bill reckons it pushed rail freight ten years up the line. Soon the use of 40kg wheat bags was so damn, well so very last century.

So the town’s growing, the pub’s thriving and everyone should be happy, right?

Er, not exactly. For a start the pub was being run by a publican who was as popular as a scientist at a One Nation Rally so those who drank hated him, and those who didn’t, the wowsers, preached that his was a profession of Lucifer.

Anyway the drinkers ﬁgured the best option to ditch the bloke was to get another pub and they applied for a license. Their application was opposed by the unholy alliance of the pubfearing publican and the god-fearing public. Midway through the application Mr Popularity sold out and passed the beer taps onto another bloke who actually was extremely popular in town but he too, mindful of business, fought to keep his monopoly.

The Wowsers were led by the local Methodist minister W.E. Wood who believed in prohibition and said if he had his way, ‘there would be no open hotels in Ariah Park.’

“The granting of another license would not,” he preached, “be in the best interests of the young people.”

Bolstered by a band of locals who’d been signed up to Temperance Pledges in a last minute recruiting frenzy, the Wowsers won out and there was no second pub.

In the local rag, right beside the transcript and sympathetic coverage of the court hearing was a large advert for the Ariah Park Hotel proclaiming its ‘large and roomy garage and stable’.

(Ah, the practice of strategically placing ads to help ensure sympathetic editorial coverage has been around long before motorcycle magazines were born!)

But the option of both stable and garage was a true sign of the times.

The Ariah Park News’s coverage of the court hearing was also accompanied by adverts for internally combusting vehicles:

“Fordson… Every Farmer Needs a Truck… £177/0/0”

“Overland Whippet… from 5mph to 30mph in 13 seconds (and brakes

which will stop you) in 51ft from 40 mph... £225/0/0”

The early adopter folks at Ariah Park stayed true to form and took to powered vehicles like a crow to roadkill. And the merchants on Coolamon St took to selling fuel with pretty much the same vigour. The ﬁrst bowser appeared in 1925 and pretty soon there were eighteen of ‘em.

The only thing multiplying faster than the hand primed petrol pumps was the stray dog population, leading Mort Collings, editor of the Ariah Park News to bitch, ‘We’ll soon be just a town of bowsers and towsers.’

Now Mort can take credit for the initial poetry but the identity of the fella who expanded and slightly altered it after the victory of the Temperance nutters a year later has gone unrecorded. But for the last 90 years his words have lived on and Ariah Park’s been known by his description, ‘Wowsers, Bowsers and Peppercorn Trees’.

Whew! My cab-sav and Bill’s beer are long gone and so are their encores and after an hour Bill’s gotta hit the road so we head back to the bar and it’s empty. Brian’s gone, Wendy’s gone, all the customers have disappeared. All that’s left is Brian’s son-in-law Wayne who explains there’s a nine grand badge draw up at the Bowlo and everyone’s up there.

So I say my thanks to Bill and head up the road, not straight up but around the block coz there’s a building I want to check out.

I leave the pub that is still going strong and head a couple of streets west turn left and there’s the old Methodist Church, home of old Rev Wood who led the Wowser campaigns against not just an additional pub, but the original one as well.

Bill had told me that no Lutherans settled this area which right now is a pity because I know they’d understand my Schadenfreude when I pass the old Church and see that it’s

been closed for 20 years.

Up at the Bowlo the night’s in full swing and I’m inside for no more than 2 minutes before a local asks how I am and can he help. I buy a rafﬂe ticket and win my ﬁrst ever meat tray and donate it back to Wendy for the pub kitchen.

Blokes and their partners laugh and shout, kids run everywhere, wait staff carry plates trying to ﬁnd the owners, the bloke on the PA can hardly be heard and the nine grand doesn’t go off. Somehow you know that if it had been won, the bar would’ve been shouted. It’s just that kind of place!

The Wowsers may’ve had their beliefs but Good People, Good Town, Good Pub is a holy trinity that’ll do me!

Disclaimer: Contrary to standard industry practice I didn’t seek, nor was I offered any freebie or special deal (let alone overseas junket) by anyone connected with anything in this article. =

GET ROUTED ON THE ISLE OF MAN

TAKE THE AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLIST SELF-GUIDED TT 2017 TOUR

If you want to join our IoM TT tour in 2017 you had better hurry; places are ﬁlling quickly!

If you’ve ever ridden a motorcycle you will know about the Isle of Man TT, and there’s a good chance that a visit to this circuit of insanity is high on your Bucket List. And here’s your chance to get your backside trackside at the 2017 TT and have of the best weeks of your life!

Join those insane racers who put life and limb on the line to race what has to be one of the scariest and just plain most exciting circuits in the world.

How? Just take part in this limited numbers trip organised for next year by Get Routed Motorcycle Shippers and by us. Australian MOTORCYCLIST Magazine in conjunction with Cycletorque and Rapid Bikes magazines and Get Routed is offering an unbeatable package for next year’s IoM TT. It includes return shipping for your bike, 14 nights’ accommodation on the Isle of Man during the whole of the TT and ferry tickets to get to the Isle of Man from either Ireland or England – as well as back... You’ll also get a guided tour of the TT circuit with Aussie TT racer, Alex Pickett.

What’s the catch? The package is limited to just 15 bikes!

Bikes will be shipped out of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in the ﬁrst week of March to arrive in the UK in Felixstowe, Suffolk just prior to Tuesday 2 May.

If you want to go for a lap of Ireland before attending the North West 200 race meeting in Northern Ireland, you

can collect your bike on Tuesday 2 May and ride across to Holyhead to catch the ferry to Dublin. The NW200 is usually one or two weeks before the start of the TT Practice week - actual dates will be announced in October this year. Don't want to go to the NW200? You can collect your bike anytime from the 2nd until Thursday 25 May. You'll need a day or so to ride across England to get to the Saturday 27 May ferry to the Isle of Man.

Your time on the IoM is your own and if laps of the TT course are your bag, then getting up early in the morning during Practice week is the best opportunity to head out while there's not so much traffic, says Dave Milligan at Get Routed. Dave has a world of experience with the TT and with our own Stuart and TT racer, Alex Pickett leading the tour, you’re not going to find better hosts. Saturday 10 June sees everyone back on the ferry and off the Island. The first return shipment to Australia is being loaded on Tuesday 11 July so you have time to get across to the Netherlands and see the Dutch TT at the historic Assen circuit on the last Sunday in June. The chance to tour Europe for a month after the TT is hard to resist, and the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

There will be a later return shipment in either September or October for those who want to spend more time touring Europe on their bikes. Just think about it: the list of MotoGP, WSBK, BSB and IDM race weekends in Europe will be more than enough for even the most

ardent bike race fan in June, July, August and September. Or there’s a swag of sights to be seen all over the Continent. The cost of the package is only $6736 for a bike and rider. Pillion cost is $2335. This gets your bike over to the UK and 14 days guaranteed accommodation at the 2017 IomTT! Yes, 14 days at the IomTT. If you know how hard it is to get accommodation for the TT, you’ll know how good a deal this really is. Put a big fat tick next to that bucket list item and go to the 2017 Isle of Man TT with us and Get Routed. This is the time to go if you’re ever going, and you know you are! So book now to avoid missing out and start getting excited! There are only those 15 spots available, so book as quickly as you can! 

How to book

WHO: Get Routed Motorcycle Tours 2017 IoMTT Tour

CONTACT: Dave Milligan –dave@getrouted.com.au 0412 689 849 and/or 03 5625 9080. Skype: dave. milligan6 or visit the website: www. getrouted.com.au Facebook: www. facebook.com/getrouted

WHEN: From Tuesday May 2 –Tuesday 11 July, 2017 (or longer by arrangement with Get Routed) MORE INFO: www.getrouted.com.au and www.iomtt.com

COMPILED BY THE BEAR

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP DOWN SOUTH

Carole from South Pacific Motorcycle Tours in Christchurch has brought me up to date. Ten years ago I stayed at Mandeville Lodge B&B near Christchurch with Carole and Mike Lester, who as South Pacific Motorcycle Tours also had a few bikes for rent. Things have changed radically. South Pacific Motorcycle Tours now hires out more than 30 road-touring bikes for rental, GPS and fully guided tours. In fact the only thing that remains the same is the location, a peaceful setting just north of Christchurch airport and close to the Inland Scenic Route taking lucky riders to the glorious Southern Alps.

Mandeville Lodge reverted back to Carole & Mike’s private home after things in the motorcycle rental area started to really take off. Carole now runs the business alongside Mike, supported by Neil (Ops/Sales

Manager); David the Workshop Wizard; Hayley the Travel Manager; and several ‘as and when required’ tour guides. The once back-bedroom ofﬁce has turned into a modern purpose built Reception Area and the double garage has become a huge purpose-built presentation area, full of ready to roll gleaming motorcycles and an equally huge line-up of full and open-face helmets, jackets, pants, boots and gloves. One side has been assigned for packing tables, tea, coffee and biscuits.

Australian Motorcyclist has ‘The Bear’. SPMT has ‘The Wizard’! David, their magic mechanic, works miracles on the bikes in his large, tidy workshop, turning a returned dusty machine into a gleaming bike. His ‘ladies’ are presented to every client in immaculate condition, and they even all have names. There’s Lucy, Poppy, Roxy, Betty, Bunty, and Ronda the Honda to name but a few. With over 30 bikes, the premises are now bursting at the seams with gorgeous Triumphs, BMWs, Harleys, Suzukis and Hondas. With no less than nine brand new bikes arriving in time for September when the Kiwi Season

Starts, there should be plenty of bikes to go around.

South Paciﬁc has just launched a new mobile responsive website, with the ‘piece de resistance’ being an Easy Online Booking Button, not just for Rentals, but for Fully Guided and GPS Tours too. Now, GPS Tours, you notice, not just Self-guided Tours.

South Paciﬁc has a unique product which changes the way an individual motorcyclist can travel. Press ‘Go’, and your Garmin Zumo Waterproof GPS will take you literally door-todoor, telling you where to stop along the way depending on your personal brief. You only have to go onto TripAdvisor to see that there are literally hundreds of happy campers who have experienced NZ the South Paciﬁc Way.

Fully guided tours are also done in style. Two guides (motorcyclist and van driver), 4-star premier hotel accommodation and loads of activities including the iconic jet-boating,

Ready for the road – and there are more new bikes coming.

bungy jumping and Maori cultural performances. And there are lots of specials too. For the budget conscious there are always discounts.

For all you serious petrol heads, there’s a special 10 Day Tour available for Easter 2017 featuring the famous Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow in Marlborough Country. You’ll be sitting in the Platinum seats watching over 100 aircraft, mock airﬁeld attacks supported by ground theatre and there’s pyrotechnics, musical entertainment,

food and delectable Marlborough Wines, Classic Car Shows, all in all a fabulous event, combined with nine more days of superb motorcycling around the South Island of beautiful New Zealand.

These guys also have partners in Auckland and Queenstown, so if you need to drop your bike off there you’ll be equally welcomed with open arms.

Take a look at South Paciﬁc’s website https://www.motorbiketours.co.nz or call +64 3 312 0066.

Ride with the Bear

Here’s a bonus: I will be joining you for the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow and South Paciﬁc’s tour! Omaka has been one of my favourite places in New Zealand ever since I ﬁrst saw it, and I’ll be taking the tour with you to see it again. I hope to see it with as many readers as possible!

+ years

formerly Ferris Wheels Safaris Turkish Treasures 21 days: Istanbul, Gallipoli Capadocia, Black Sea

The bike that David is getting ready could be for your.

South Paciﬁc arranged these bikes for a terriﬁc NZ tour for The Ghost, Mike and me ten years ago.

There is no hurry to get away from South Paciﬁc base.

RIGHT ROYAL RAJASTHAN

Afew years ago I spent some days in Rajasthan as a guest of HarleyDavidson, and to say that I loved it would be quite an understatement. Rajasthan has all the mystery and exotic attraction of the rest of India, but lacks much of the crowding and the poverty.

Now New Delhi-based Legendary Moto Rides has announced four tours of Rajasthan, from 16th Oct’2016 to 29th Oct’2016; 04th Dec’2016 to 17 Dec’2016; 08th Jan’2017 to 21th Jan’2017 and 12th Feb’2017 to 25th Feb’2017. The tours take 13 nights/14 days with 10 riding days and between 5 and 7 Hours a day on average. The distance covered will be 2300km, and the operator describes the tours as “easy” riding. Temperatures you can expect range from 15 to 32 degrees Celsius.

There are far too many details in their press release for me to pass on here, so if you’re even slightly interested go to legendarymotorides. com and check out the full tours.

The cost is a very reasonable US$2600 per rider on Twin/Dbl share basis and US$2000 per pillion. Single Room Supplement is US$490. Most expenses are included in the cost.

AFFORDABLE BEST OF BAJA

“Every year we take a little time to review each of our adventures top to bottom,” MotoQuest tells us. “The itinerary, the riding routes, the lodging, etc. All of these things factor into our pricing models for our trips, and sometimes we’re able to make a few minor changes that result in major savings for our customers. Our Best of Baja series is a great example!

Best of Baja SouthboundNovember 4-13, 2016 & February 5-14, 2017

Best of Baja NorthboundFebruary 15-24, 2017

“Both our Southbound and Northbound trips offer riders the best there is to experience in Baja California, Mexico. Relax on the beach with a cold drink, go on an up-close-and-personal whale watching excursion, and explore the diverse Baja landscape. All the while enjoy fresh authentic cuisine and soak up the laid back culture.

“And now both of these trips are starting at just US$3500! So start planning your winter escape!”

If only I could… even though it would be summer for me. =

Even lunch can be a major event in Rajasthan.

There’s more than just sand down in Baja California. There’s also dust.

TRAVEL

Morethan 20 years ago, I wrote and took photographs for a book about the history of the (then) NSW Bushﬁre Brigades. It was interesting work, especially when I was almost trapped by a ﬁre that was supposed to be safely distant but turned out to be right on the other side of the ridge where I was sitting in a truck with my cameras …

But talking to people was always even more interesting than the fires themselves, and one of the most fascinating conversations I had was with a Fire Control Officer on the South Coast. He told me that fire control as such was not his main job at all.

“There’s hundreds of ferals living up in the ranges,” he told me (or words to that effect) “and the most important part of my job is getting them to trust me so when there’s a ﬁre and I tell them to get out, they listen to me.”

I’m not suggesting that you go and hunt up the ferals. They live up there for reasons of their own, and unexpected meetings with unexpected

THE WILD SOUTH

HERE’S TO A LITTLE-KNOWN CORNER OF NSW

WORDS/PHOTOS THE BEAR

motorcyclists will likely also be unwelcome. But it gives you some idea of how remote, in many ways, quite close parts of Australia can be. You don’t need to go inland for hundreds of kilometres to ﬁnd wilderness –or wild people.

The area I’m looking at in this little story is in the ranges of the far southeast of NSW. In a kind of rough rectangle formed by the Mt Imlay Road, the Monaro Highway, the Bombala-South Pambula road and the Princes Highway there is some

spectacular country, accessible by spectacular (but not necessarily easy) roads.

Let’s dispose of the bounding roads ﬁrst.

The Monaro Highway, sometimes called the Cann River Road south of the border where it ends at the town of the same name, is an excellent stretch of bitumen, just occasionally chewed up a bit by trucks. It makes an ideal alternative to the matching bit of the Princes Highway. Even if you do nothing more than give it a try, reading

On my way from Melbourne to Sydney by some of the various roads in this story. / Lovely trees and good road surface mark the Wild South.

TRAVEL

this story will not have been wasted. Keep in mind that there are no services for the 85km between Bombala and Cann River. You will ﬁnd yourself in National Park and State Forest for most of the ride. A good run for clearing the mind and possibly the exhaust pipes. At the northern end, turn right where it meets Delegate Road and you’ll ﬁnd yourself in Bombala.

To the east, the Princes Highway passes through one major town, Eden. One of the many places considered as a site for the capital of Australia, Eden counts itself lucky to this day that the honour went to Canberra. Despite claims to the contrary, Eden’s main industry is partying with the crews of the dismasted yachts from the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Woodchip exports from the wharf across Twofold Bay are not to everyone’s taste, but the Japanese have to have something to get their teeth into. The Killer Whale Museum on the way down to the harbour is worth a look, as is Boydtown. This is not a town but a sort of tourist resort with a caravan park. For foreign readers, caravan parks also provide camping space.

Once upon a time, the Mount Imlay Road (sometimes posted without the “Mount”) was a high speed racetrack from the mountains down to the sea. But that was not long after it had been tarred. Since then the log trucks

have chewed it up quite a bit. To be fair, it was built for them so we can’t really complain. Well, we can actually. It’s been a great loss to the (naturally absolutely responsible) motorcyclists who use it to avoid the sometimes rather zealous attentions of the Eden and Mallacoota-based Highway Patrol chaps and chapesses. Miss Piggy, the once famous HP ofﬁcer from Eden, is long gone but still remembered by old-timers.

On the map, the Mount Imlay Road looks a bit difﬁcult to follow but in reality it is easily distinguished from the various side tracks. Watch for log trucks and consider stopping at the pleasant White Rock River picnic site. It’s signposted, on the south side not far from the western end of the road. And so to the most interesting road of this quartet. In Bombala, another locality considered as a site for our national capital and heavily promoted by King O’Malley (look him up, he’s a hoot) take the wonderfully named main street, Maybe Street (there’s also a Caveat Street and, thank Heavens, a Mercy Street) to the north-east. It soon tires of its vacillating name and becomes Cathcart Street leading to, you guessed it, Cathcart. Before leaving Bombala let me note that between the servo and what used to be the NAB Bank and is now a tea rooms and B&B, there is, set back from the road, a

terriﬁc little Asian restaurant.

All up Bombala is a top little town with platypuses… platypie... platy… more than one platypus in the Bombala River.

The Cathcart Road crosses the Coolumbooka River on a wooden bridge not far out of town. This is also home to those furry ducks, I’m told. The road is terriﬁc and runs through open paddocks so that you can see any rare Australian fauna coming. Try to avoid hitting it, whatever it is. Cathcart was once a – well, I was going to write “thriving” but maybe that’s pushing it a bit – town but is now pretty much closed down. The road changes name to Eden Street for about two blocks before becoming Mount Darragh Road, which it will remain until you reach the Princes Highway except for another two block alternative in Wyndham where it turns to Gordon Street for that short while. Before then, though, you’ve got a lovely curvy and well surfaced mountain road to enjoy.

Wyndham has some services including a pub, and seems to be a thoroughly nice place. When you’re back on Mount Darragh Road you’ll ﬁnd yourself continuing along gentle sweepers through well-kept paddocks down the slopes of the Great Divide to the Princes Highway in the utterly unremarkable South Pambula.

Now for the guts of the matter. There

is an almost endless number of tracks within this rough quadrilateral, most of them courtesy of forestry. I’m just going to describe a couple of them; feel free to explore others. You’re never very far from civilisation here, but do keep in mind that some of the tracks will deteriorate badly after major rainfalls. If the mud looks too deep, turn back – nobody can ride with a jammed front wheel.

Okay, coming in from the Princes Highway you have the choice of the Ben Boyd Road and the more southerly Snake Track. The former is a bit of a ridge road while the Snake Track follows the Towamba River. And yes, I’ve actually seen a snake on this track, although it seemed pretty keen to get the hell away from me. Maybe it didn’t like Turbos. Anyway, both Ben

The slopes of the Great Dividing Range are lavishly green. That stuff burns well when it’s dry. / If this church isn’t at Cathcart it’s not far away.

IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!

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Business Meets Leisure

This is one of our series of “bleisure” or business/leisure stories; they tell you how to ﬁll the days off that some of you can get when you travel for work in Australia or overseas. Naturally, they involve motorcycling…

AN AUSSIE BREAK IN… MACKAY

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO MAKE THE MOST OF A BREAK FROM WORK ON THE COAL COAST?

Recently I mentioned in these pages that I was going to work on a series of “bleisure” or business/ leisure stories; this refers to the days off that some of our readers can get when they travel for work. Some of them would be set in Australia, I told my mate Miner Mick.

“Where are you going to do stories for?” he asked. His grammar’s crap but he’s got a heart of… well, whatever he’s currently digging up. Coal, I guess.

“Capital cities,” I said, “plus maybe Cairns. Why?”

“Well, I spend a lot of time in Mackay,” he replied. “Mackay, Queensland, you know.”

“I know Mackay,” I said. “I’ve been there. Nice town, actually. You want me to do an Aussie Break story on Mackay?”

“Yes I do,” he said. “And it’s your shout.”

“Let’s make it your shout and you’ll get your story…”

Mackay really is a nice town. I especially like the garden atmosphere in the main street. And there isn’t just one good ride available, there are two. But I’ll save the second one for a later story…

Turn off the Bruce Highway, the A1, to the west on the Peak Downs Highway, number 70, then take the turnoff signposted to Eungella and Mirani on the 64. Eungella is pronounced “yunjela”. I have no idea how Mirani is pronounced. This is the right road now, and you will not be turning off until you get to your destination. You’re following the Pioneer River now, and the lay of the road is partly determined by the way it twists and turns. There won’t be any serious corners until you’re past Finch Hatton. That does not mean that it will not be interesting.

The ﬁrst noticeable feature is in Marian, a huge sugar mill on your right; usually these things are way off the road and hard to get to, but this one is accessible and pretty interesting to look at.

All along here the road is in excellent condition, and most houses are set well back. I’m not suggesting that that’s a license to speed, but you don’t need to worry too seriously about that little needle. There is a pleasant little pub on the left somewhere along here, but I’ve forgotten where. You won’t miss it, I’m sure.

Eventually you’ll pass through Finch Hatton. If you have time, the eponymous gorge is well worth a look. I’m not sure if the rally of the same name is still conducted. Then, after following a narrowing valley for a while, you ﬁnally ﬁnd the corners which lead up the scarp to Eungella. There’s not much up here except a church (handy if you’ve been committing sins) and the Eungella Dam Road which takes you south into the open forest. Oh, there is a small shop which sells excellent homemade ice cream.

So have an ice cream and get set to go back the same way you came. That’s

The Marian Sugar Mill looks more like an oil reﬁnery.

TRAVEL

no hardship, because it is a pleasant and enjoyable road. When you get back to Marian, just past the sugar mill, turn left over the bridge crossing the Pioneer River. This puts you on State Road 5 which runs up to the Bruce Highway through endless-seeming cane ﬁelds. Turn right here and continue to the Yakapani Seaforth Road, off to the left. This in turn takes you down to the coast along a nice enough, curvy side road. A little further along on the same side is The Leap with its somewhat gimmicky but friendly pub.

The Leap is called the Leap for really tragic reasons, so I’ll leave it to you to

ﬁnd out about that when you get there. And all you need to do now is to ride on, back to Mackay over the bridge.

WHERE’S MY RIDE, DUDE?

Rentalmotorbike.com is a large international organisation that seems to work though afﬁliated shops. They have a depot near Mackay Airport. See www. rentalmotorbike.com/motorbike-rentalqueensland for details and bookings. They offer Harleys and Triumphs. 

I can promise you that Angie’s ice cream is worth stopping for.

Flowers are everywhere, as you would expect from Queensland.

Yes, that’s the road down there climbing up to Eungella.

I wonder if the Pastor has a quick bike to get from one church to the next…

On the way up (or down, I guess) to or from Eungella, beware cattle grids.

ALL THAT’S OLD IS NEW

SBS Dual Carbon

Classic Racing pads

All you classic racing bike owners can rejoice. You can get modern race braking performance thanks to those great guys at SBS Brake Pads. The SBS Dual Carbon Classic racing pads are available for a wide range of calipers and motorcycles (not for road use). See your local bike shop, or www.kenma.com.au or www.monzaimports.com.au . Now go on, rejoice!

UNDER THE RADAR K-Shirt & K-Legs from Draggin Jeans

Combine your love of riding with your own fashion style. Stay safe and ride in your favourite outﬁt with the

NEWINTHESHOPS

Draggin K-Shirt and K-legs! Both undergarments are lined with the famous Draggin RooMoto lining which allow abrasion resistance and protection under any piece of clothing. Complete with climate control, the K-Shirt and K-legs are soft, breathable and fully washable. Available from most bike shops or www.dragginjeans.net , and we will review them shortly

SOCK IT

Dainese D-Core riding socks

Price - $34.95 (mid), $39.95 (high) Breathable socks designed to ensure ergonomics and correct blood

GIVE

ME POWER!

BMC Air Filters

BMC Air Filters are designed as a performance replacement for the original element/s fitted to most motorcycles. The benefits are increased air flow intake capacity combined with excellent filtration to assist with engine, ignition or exhaust system modifications.

The BMC Standard multi-layered 4 ply cotton fabric medium when treated with BMC’s special blend low viscosity oil will contain airborne impurities down to 7 microns in size.

The ﬁlter can be washed and reserviced with the BMC Filter Care products to extend the ﬁlter life.

BMC Air Filters are imported and distributed exclusively in Australia by Link International and are available at most bike shops. www.linkint.com.au

VISION OF COMFORT

Mustang

Seats – Victory Vision

Price - $889US

Mustang’s new one-piece touring seat for Victory’s 08-16 model Vision widens the bucket radius of both the front and rear seating areas while slightly lowering them as well. Not only does Mustang’s more comfortable design let the rider sit back into the 17.5” wide seat but the front nose area has been designed slightly lower to eliminate that “crowded” feeling. The passenger is fully supported in a 15.5” wide bucket that is contoured for comfort.

circulation thanks to compression lines to sustain muscles and lower vibrations. These socks also feature ankle support, footbed compression, an anatomical asymmetrical cut, differentiated for right and left foot, grip on the sole of the foot to prevent slipping inside the shoe, ventilated mesh panel on the back of the foot, are a unisex ﬁt and come in three sizes S-L and two leg heights. See your local bike shop or www.cassons.com.au

Mustang has incorporated heating components for high/low dual control by rider and passenger. For all day riding support the rider can choose

NEWINTHESHOPS

the optional backrest that is easily removable, fully adjustable, folds for storage and quickly installs into the receiver which is built into Mustang’s seat. The seat cover material perfectly matches the stock passenger backrest on the trunk. Visit www.MustangSeats. com and feel the difference that Mustang makes! Yep, we use the seats ourselves.

STEALTH LIKE A NINJA

Oggy Knobbs Fender Eliminator –Ninja 300 & Z300 - Price - $129 Manufactured in Oz with the same quality materials and attention to detail we have all come to expect from the people at Oggy Knobbs. The Oggy

Knobb’s fender eliminator is designed for use with the OEM licence plate lamp and Australian number plates (with the exception of S.A. and N.T.), these are truly a plug and play ﬁtment, without the need to cut wires or drill holes, they are completely legal when ﬁtted using the OEM lamps. Available now for various models with other models very soon. Oggy Fender Eliminators can be sourced from any motorcycle store in Australia or via Kenma – www.kenma.com.au

HIT THE APOCALYPSE

O’Neal Apocalypse pants

Price - $149.95 (Mens and Womens)

A great compromise between a motocross pant and an adventure pant, the Apocalypse has an adjustable waist Velcro system for precise ﬁt, zip off leg, two zippered pockets for secure storage, two jean style front pockets for easy access, inner leg panel for heat resistance, jean style front snap stud and zipper closure and stretch panels at

rear for comfort. Available in Mens sizes 28-50 and Womens sizes 1-13.

See your local bike shop or www.cassons.com.au

‘HEAVY’,

MAN

Heavy Industry Collection by Kuryakyn

Rough, rugged and ideal for minimalist riders seeking gritty style paired with pure practicality. Introducing the all-new Heavy Industry collection from Kuryakyn. These parts consist of bar grips, footboards, pegs, switchblades and brake and gear shifters. Available in

chrome or satin black. Visit www.kuryakyn.com to purchase.

CLEAN, NOT GRUNGE

Beanie - Price - $15 including postage

X Tech Grunge Brush

Price - $8.95

A convenient and effective All-in-

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WOULD YOU LIKE BE A MORE CONFIDENT RIDER (EVEN IF YOU’VE BEEN RIDING FOR YEARS EVEN IF YOU’VE BEEN RIDING FOR YEARS EVEN IF YOU’VE BEEN RIDING EVEN IF YOU’VE BEEN RIDING )? )?)? ±COME AND ENJOY A DAY OF DEVELOPING SKILLS TO A DEVELOPING SPECIFICALLY HELP YOUR ROAD RIDING? SPECIFICALLY HELP YOUR ROAD RIDING? HELP YOUR ROAD HELP YOUR ROAD

IRON, COLD IRON IS THE MASTER OF THEM ALL*

WORDS/PHOTOS PETER HOPPER

The call went out to all Australian Iron Butt members - the first Iron Butt Australia Muster would take place in Parkes, NSW, on the first Saturday in July. A quick check of the temperatures in Parkes at this time of year revealed that it would be insanely cold, particularly for a North Queenslander. Then a check on Google Maps showed the distance from Mackay was just a little more than 1600km, the minimum distance for a 24 hour Iron Butt certified ride. Certified is a good word to describe the behaviour of what a group of motorcyclists do in an effort to justify their motto, “World’s toughest motorcycle riders”. So why not? And I booked in, as did 60 other riders. With Robyn riding pillion for her first Iron Butt, we pulled out of Mackay at 1am on 1st July, rugged up. The intention was if we had to ride night hours, let’s do most of them in the warmer air of Queensland. The colder stretch would be more bearable in daylight hours. The rules said that we had to complete the ride on 2nd July. Our ride went as planned and was pretty

uneventful – the way I like it. The gathering was a great group of people with a bent for spending large parts of their lives on bikes rolling kilometres under their wheels. There were people there from all States, including Tassie, on a wide range of bikes. My personal favourite was a Rocket III kitted out to look as if it had just come off the set of Mad Max. It sported a full range of LED spots to light the road like daytime, navigation and tracking devices for every occasion and a long range fuel tank that ﬁlled half the space of the pillion seat and the luggage rack. It had been piloted from WA by a bloke called Frog. He was disappointed he did not pull off an Iron Butt “extreme” ride because he was stopped by the police for a random breath test at 11pm on the Nullarbor, and lost 20 minutes while they explained the dangers of camels.

Registration was from 10am and the ofﬁcial presentation was at 4pm. There were about 40 riders who had completed a Saddle Sore 1600K to get there. Some presentations were supported with a story of their travels. The best of these stories was from Sebastian, who arrived

in Charleville in the very early hours to be informed by the lady driving a rubbish truck that there was no 24hr fuel. As he settle on the driveway of a servo to wait the hours to the 5am opening, she returned and offered for him to siphon the fuel from her car, but with no hose they went to her house where they drained the fuel from every petrol driven appliance she owned – the mower, generator, the ride-on and more. It was enough to get him on the road and complete his ride.

Mile Eater awards were presented to some of the hard core Iron Butt members who had shown real commitment to long distance riding; like Wombattle and OX-34 - “Mile Eater Platinum” (more than 40 certified rides) and Skidoo and TJ – “Mile Eater Gold” (more than 20 certified rides). It was Wombattle and Skidoo who rode the CFMoto 650TKs from Byron Bay to Denham and back (Australian MOTORCYCLIST No15), mimicking the achievement of legend “Davo” Jones on the first of the 1400 GTRs, back in 2007. This was the man who inspired me to have a go at an Iron Butt in the first place.

Foggy early morning, Rockhampton.

Awards presented, yarns continued over dinner, followed by a presentation from Cuddles about his experiences of participating in two Iron Butt Rallies in the US, more than 11,000 miles in 11 days. Amazing stories.

The event concluded the next morning with a photo opportunity at

The Dish, before we all headed home, agreeing to meet again for another muster in

P.S. I am sure someone is saying, “Iron Butt riding - that is ridiculous!”, but I was impressed that some of those who came did not achieve an Iron Butt on the way to the muster,

...where the trail ends for a Pinny Pie and cold beer, also this is where nearly all the bike riders park their cars safely and unload the bikes etc. we have 2 acres out the back and everyone knows they can do this for free anytime.

because they were aware of their fatigue and packed it in before it became dangerous. If everyone made the effort to be as aware of fatigue as this mob, we would have a lot less fatigue related motor vehicle accidents.

*Rudyard Kipling knew this a long time ago. 

TIMBERTOWN RESORT & MOTEL

2017.

Fully kitted Triumph Rocket III from WA. Hey, Frog, that bike looks truly amazing. Want to get in touch with us some time and tell us about it?

Group photo at the Dish.

LONGTERMERS TIME TO UPGRADE

YAMAHA MT-09 TRACER

We’ve got a newbie in the stables and it’s a cracker! Yep, let’s all welcome to the Australian Motorcyclist garage, Yamaha’s awesome MT-09 Tracer. It’s a tourer that can be used for everything you could imagine. I could even see it being used on dirt roads, but then again, I’d probably cry because it really is a pretty bike to look at and I’d hate to get it dirty.

The Tracer also seems to be an extremely popular choice with you guys and girls. The reception we’ve received to the few details we posted on our social media channels and via email has been amazing. A lot of you have said that you’re interested to see what we think about the Tracer and what we ﬁt to it for our travels, and that’s where the focus is with the Tracer. We’ll be making this into what I class as the perfect Australian touring motorcycle. The Tracer comes standard with the ‘City’ panniers from the FJR1300, basically the same pannier with a ﬂat

side, as opposed to the more roundish side ﬁtted to the FJR1300.

If you’re not familiar with the Yamaha MT-09 Tracer (you should be), here’s a bit of a recap on this great machine from when I attended the launch (AMM #26 and with some updates included):

Hopping on board the Tracer, you immediately notice how light it is. Yamaha states a 190kg dry, 210kg wet weight, and as with the rest of the MT range, lightness and the resulting manageability are great features.

The high torque 847cc triple engine of the MT-09 is slim, making the Tracer itself slim and easy to deal with for most size riders. It combines lowrevving torque with explosive power up high. It offers the claimed best in class power to weight ratio, too, while being

smooth as a you know what!

You get three engine modes to choose from – Standard, A and B. Standard comes on automatically whenever you turn the ignition on, but it was A mode that I loved on this bike. B mode I found took a lot out of the fun of the triple powerplant, but A left me giggling like a schoolgirl every time I twisted the throttle, much to Alana’s delight when we were ﬂowing swiftly through corners and her horror when I was saving on front tyre wear after switching off the traction control system.

The Tracer comes with a greater fuel capacity than the MT-09, 18 litres all up, and with an indicated 5.6-5.8L/100km usage throughout the launch, that is pretty good. Expect better consumption if you’re not using loads

of throttle – obviously.

As a practical yet sporty motorcycle, the Tracer is perfectly comfortable for two-up touring, as we found out during the two day launch. In fact the only other motorcycle on the market that I’ve ridden which has as much rider to pillion space is the Triumph Trophy – a full on big bore tourer. Yamaha has achieved this massive amount of room by redesigning the rear subframe. It is 814.5mm in length versus the MT09’s 683.9mm. This all adds up to an extremely happy pillion and you will be happy, too. Not being shoved in the back all the time allows you to ride the bike more freely, as you would solo.

The rider’s seat is height adjustable, 845-860mm. This may rule out some shorter riders, but give one a go if you are a bit short in the legs, think about getting the lower accessory seat: you might just be surprised. I had the seat set on 860mm and found that to be excellent for my long pins. Seat to peg height is very roomy as well. Alana said that the pillion seat was comfy all day and she loved the rear lip built into the seat that allowed her to relax more, not thinking that she’d slide off the back under hard acceleration.

For the rider, you also get an adjustable handlebar (10mm) through the clamps. Again, I had it on the highest setting, which was bang on the money – super comfy all day long. To match this, the Tracer comes with a three position adjustable screen (30mm range) and yes, I had it on the highest setting, which deﬂected a good amount of wind away from my body.

As with the MT-09, the Tracer is set up with fairly soft suspension. It is okay for a solo rider, where you can adjust

+ years

the preload and rebound front and rear to make a good all-round package, but two-up it needs a new rear spring, or a totally new shock with a remote preload adjuster to make things just that bit better with the added weight. You can get a spring from a suspension tuner for $300 or so dollars, while a full custom shock might cost up to $2000 for something like the latest generation Ohlins. Otherwise handling is light and balanced with a good amount of rigidity from the frame. This results in a predictable nature that allows you to be more comfortable all day long, not distracting you from your sightseeing by making you focus too much on getting around corners.

Anti-lock braking comes standard on the Tracer, with radial mount calipers up front which have loads of power and feel, and a rear brake with good feel. I never got to the point of activating the ABS and I worked the brakes quite hard at times, again to Alana’s horror.

The dashboard comes from the latest Super Ténéré and includes indications for gear position, outside temperature, fuel level, drive mode settings, traction control settings, accessory grip heater settings, fuel consumption, trip meters and more. It is very easy to read in all lighting conditions and also easy to scroll through via the up or down switch on the left side of the bar.

The bike is equipped with innovative new twin LED headlights that feature LEDs built into the reﬂector lenses, and for added convenience the headlights can be adjusted without any tools. Both low and high beams use this technology to produce a sharp and energy efﬁcient light, and the daytime

running lights are low energy LEDs. Located within individual nacelles, these hi-tech twin headlights give the Tracer a unique and distinctive appearance, one that I like very much.

Hard case 19.5 litre (each) panniers come standard and are a good size for two-up weekend getaways. The bike has integrated attachment points for a super clean look. The Tracer comes with a centre stand, 12V socket and M6 threaded holes in the handlebar clamps to attach an accessory bar for mounting a GPS or similar. All-in-all, it’s a lot of bang for your buck.

Accessories are all touring orientated. They include comfort seats, top case, heated grips, higher screen, LED fog lights and a USB adaptor to name but of few of the substantial range that’s available. If you want to release some grunty triple cylinder tunes, you can choose from full Carbon or Titanium Akrapovic systems as well.

We will be ﬁtting many of these accessories to our bike, so stay tuned!

Both Alana and I found the Yamaha MT-09 Tracer to be perfect for touring and sporty riding, all in comfort. Yamaha wished to showcase the Tracer as the perfect weekend sports tourer and from the smiles on all of the pillions’ and riders’ faces after the two days, I think they’ve hit the nail on the head. With a remarkably low price tag of only $15,499 complete with panniers and the other goodies, it’s pretty hard to pass up.

So, how does that all sound, pretty good, hey! Next month we get stuck into the massive boxes of accessories Yamaha has sent and ﬁt the rear rack and also ﬁt the new-to-Australia Coocase topbox! SW 

Morrocan magic 20 days: Marrakech, Fes, Atlas, Sahara 0022

formerly Ferris Wheels Safaris

tYretest

TPirelli Diablo rosso iii

In the real world

Words Stuart

esting tyres is all fine and dandy on a racetrack, but the majority of riders will never get out there to push their pride and joy to the limit. It’s out in the real world where the performance of a specific type of tyre will decide whether someone will want to fit them to their wheels.

That’s why I asked the distributor, Link International, for a set after the Asia-Paciﬁc launch of the new Pirelli Diablo Rosso III tyre, so I could ride on them in day-to-day life and really work out what they’re like.

We used our testbed bike, Yamaha’s MT-07. I’ve become very familiar with it, having lived with it for the past eighteen months or so.

It takes a 120/70/ZR17 front and 180/55/ZR17 rear.

Running in the Diablo Rosso IIIs took about 10km, or maybe less. The ﬁrst thing I noticed was how much better the front felt. There was no vagueness or uncertainty about what the tyre was doing. An additional bonus was that the Diablo Rosso III’s made the softly sprung MT-07 feel as if the suspension has been beefed up a bit. This no doubt is to do with the carcass construction being ﬁrm for greater feedback and allowing the tyre to have a larger contact patch on the bitumen. Turn was already quick thanks to a short wheelbase, but the Diablo Rosso IIIs have made it slightly

faster, yet very predictable – perfect, and then there is the amount of grip. Basically you can push the Diablo Rosso III much faster from cold than you could many other tyres. And then there is the lean angle: wow is all I can say. The proﬁle of the Diablo Rosso IIIs allows the MT-07 to lean much further than any previous tyre we’ve ﬁtted to it. I removed the ‘hero pegs’ many moons ago, now I need to somehow move the pegs up, because it is easy to scrap them now, too!

One area I was keen to explore was wet weather performance and luckily (I guess) Sydney had some crappy rainy days, which was perfect for testing out the Diablo Rosso IIIs in

adverse conditions. The amount of rain also meant that a number of the roads to and from the AMM ofﬁce were chopped up with loose gravel and potholes. Grip was the main bonus I felt riding on the Diablo Rosso III. It never felt as if the front or rear would slide away from me through turns, or spin up the rear wheel in deeper water. When it came time to ride through the loose gravel and chopped up bits of road, the front continued to grip and give me plenty of feedback so I knew what was going on. Again, this is no doubt due to the wide contact patch the tyres give you.

Now it came time to have some fun on a sunny day along a familiar

road which has plenty of fun turns. This particular road has quite a few smooth 55km/h corners, but also some 35 and 45km/h corners that have been chopped up by trucks. Where I previously would be backing off trying to glide the MT-07 over the rough pieces of bitumen, the Diablo Rosso IIIs allowed me to get some lean angle going and hold a constant throttle – amazing! I was a little shocked to be quite honest. I nearly had to turn around to see if it was a ﬂuke or not, but the Diablo Rosso IIIs continued to be stable through other chopped corners so I started to believe! I s aw the ‘Pirelli light’!

The Diablo Rosso III, despite

being a sports tyre, also seems to be wearing quite well. I’ve now done just under 2000km and they look brand new, so I’m guessing upwards of 10,000km from the set, but bear in mind the MT-07 is a fairly lightweight bike. On a heavier machine and depending on the rider, I’d say 7-10,000km would be about the mark – pretty good for a sports tyre! If you like grip and love cornering, grab a set of the new Pirelli Diablo Rosso III tyres and make the sides of your mouth sore from the size of the smile you’ll have on your dial. Talk to your local Pirelli tyre dealer, or see Link International –www.linkint.com.au =

See those ﬁne lines running around the tyre – that’s a new process of how the tread/rubber is applied making the Rosso III more consistent across the entire tyre.

Flogged and still looking brand new!

USeD&ReVieWeD

Triumph’s T3 GTX (Gore-TeX) booTs

A ‘triumph’ for your feet

Price - $375

Irecently had the opportunity to try out a pair of Triumph’s T3 GTX (Gore-Tex) boots made in conjunction with Alpinestar. I found them to be a great all-round boot, which can be worn under or over riding jeans (depending on the leg-cut) or leathers.

Designed to tour or commute and beat the weather day after day, they are a smart and stylish looking boot without making you look like a Storm Trooper. They have an internal breathable and waterproof Gore-Tex membrane that works to keep your feet dry while the protective full leather outer shell, shock resistant shin reinforcement and internal heel and toe boxes keep you protected. The zippers are on the

inside of the ankle, with strong Velcro over-ﬂaps to help keep the weather out. They have a reinforced gearchange pad and cool looking Triumph, Alpinestar logos and the UK ﬂag embossed on them. They are also CE approved and come in sizes from 40 through to 47. Available through your local Triumph dealer. MJ

NG Discs & sbs sTreeT

eXcel brake paDs

Beyond Awesome

Price - $279 each (discs)

$79 each caliper (pads)

There are a number of disc manufacturers out there but do they include a good amount of iron in the disc/s you’re buying for increased braking performance? Well, if you’ve ever wondered, well wonder no more, all you have to do is think, “NG”. Yep, NG Discs provide some of (if not the) highest amount of iron in their production range of discs for a massive range of motorcycles. What this means to you and me is that you (and I) get much better braking performance. To demonstrate this we ﬁtted a set to our Honda Crossrunner (VFR800X) along with a set of the SBS Street Excel sintered brake pads. The result was nut crunching, literally! I would have said that the standard braking performance of the Crossrunner was quite good, with nice feel and progressive power, but this has all been blown out of the water. The Crossrunner now feels like a bike with much larger discs than the smallish 296mm ones that are ﬁtted. The brake pads have a much larger surface area of material for awesome initial bite and loads of power and feel.

To put this into perspective, our “test dummy” had to brake quite suddenly and quite hard early on after their ﬁtment and where things might have been touch and go with a possible accident, he crunched himself against the tank and stopped much shorter than he said the bike normally would. So while he had pain, it was good pain thanks to the increase in performance!

I race my CBR900RR with NG

Discs and SBS pads but I demand supreme performance and get it. On the street, this is a whole new deal. Increasing the performance of the Honda Crossrunner’s brakes by the huge step that ﬁtting NG Discs and SBS pads has taken – well, I seriously think you’d be mad not to do this at your next service or pad change. Contact our friends at Kenma or see your local bike shop. www.kenma. com.au Ph: 02 9484 0777. SW

WILD ASS AIR CUSHION SPORT AIR GEL PAMPER YOUR POSTERIOR

Price - $279.95

How good are motorcycle seats these days! Compare almost anything on the market to the horrors that passed as seats in the past, and you will weep with gratitude. That applies especially to aftermarket seats, of course, but even OEM “comfort” seats are better than ever. Terrific. Well… maybe. Take almost any motorcycle on a decent trip and your backside will end up complaining bitterly. Maybe not at the end of the first day’s ride, but definitely at the end of the second. Replace the bike’s seat with the “comfort’ version, if available, and things will be somewhat better; go to an aftermarket seat from someone like Mustang or Corbin and it will be better again. It will quite likely be quite, er, bearable.

So why would you want to spend nearly three monkeys on a blow-up seat cushion?

For a few reasons. Whether you upgrade to an OEM comfort seat or an aftermarket one, you’ll get an improvement for one bike and one bike only. I suppose if you have more than one bike of the same model you can switch the seats over, but that’s not especially likely unless you’re a CX500 fanatic and you’ve bought half a dozen of them “for spares”.

The seat will also be pretty costly, and when you come to sell the bike you will probably not get the extra investment back.

Finally, a properly designed seat cushion will provide some advantages that seats by themselves can’t. You can only move around so much on a seat, whereas you can shufﬂe the cushion to almost any location. This means that its features, like the tailbone cutout and the – wait for it – “tapered cells to reduce contact with the scrotum” can be placed where your tailbone and your private parts happen to lie. This is more important than it might seem, and combined with the wide chambers which provide stability makes the Wild Ass quite unobtrusive. As well, the air allows your weight to be spread over the entire contact area and the constant transfer of air from the linked air cells to each other helps blood ﬂow.

Okay, yes, I know. Both of my bikes have Mustang aftermarket seats on them. The bucket-style seat on the Sportster is ﬁne for

any kind of distance; its shape is already close to ideal. The seat on the Ducati Scrambler, however, is both comfortable and good-looking but I’m still inclined to use an air cushion for rides of more than a day; the original is comfortable, but it’s even more comfortable then.

There are nine different Wild Ass cushions; the one I tried out, the Sport Air Gel, is smack in the middle of them. They’re all easy to use, and have tapes with hook and loop adjustment that allow you to connect them under the seat. If your seat unbolts and is therefore a pain to get off you might ﬁnd that the tapes are long enough to ﬁt across beneath the seat.

I like the Wild Ass seat, and so does my… er, my backside. See your local bike shop or www.mcleodaccessories.com.au PT

MOTOPRESSOR MINI PUMP

NO EXCUSES NOW

Price - $85.95

You know how sometimes you just stand in front of a bit of new technology and think, wow! This is going to really help? I was like that when petrol stations ﬁrst introduced pre-select pressure cutoffs. And I was right! Now our friends at Rocky Creek designs have taken the idea one step further and produced a portable pump that does the same thing.

“We developed this pump in response to all your requests,” says Janice from Rocky Creek, and for once I actually believe someone when they say that. I mean, I would have requested this if I’d thought of it.

“Our MotoPressor Mini Pump enables you to pre-select your tyre pressure, pump up your tyre and

automatically switch off when it reaches the pre-selected pressure. On top of that, you have the option to power the pump off a mini Jump Starter (sold separately). This gives you the opportunity to set up the pump at home in your garage, and keep it connected to a power point. Checking and correcting your tyre pressure is suddenly a snack. Here’s all you need to do. Connect the MotoPressor Mini Pump to your motorcycle battery or a mini jump starter and select a pressure scale either in PSI, BAR or KPA.

Select the pressure to which you’d like to pump your tyres. Then switch the pump on, stand back and let the pump do the work. Once the pump reaches the pre-selected tyre pressure, it switches off automatically.

“How easy is that?” says Janice. Well, let’s see. I am notorious for failing to check tyre pressures on my bikes, since I subscribe to the theory that the bikes are there to be ridden, not to be buggered about with. This sends Stuart into paroxysms of frustration (well, as far as he goes in that direction). But now I have the Mini Pump, it’s a moment’s work to check tyre pressures before I leave the garage. Using it is ridiculously easy; easy enough so that even I do it.

Thank you, Janice.

The kit includes the MotoPressor Mini Pump with a digital pressure gauge and a selection of power leads and connectors. All this is packed neatly into a neat, tough-looking carry case.

“The MotoPressor Mini Pump is CE approved and comes with our no nonsense 5 year product warranty. Weighs 503g and unit measures 13 x 10.5 x 5.6cm.”

It’s available from www.

rockycreekdesigns.com.au and all good motorcycle stores through Pro Accessories. PT 

The year was 1980, the Castrol Six Hour Race recently ﬁnished, with ‘Two Wheels’ magazine following up with a later issue which was to contain a special feature on Triumph motorcycles.

One of the bikes ridden in that 1980 Six Hour race was a Triumph Bonneville, similar to the Triumph Bonnie which had won the first Castrol event in 1970, ten years earlier; the race bike covering 312 laps. That ‘shit-box’ Triumph (as it was rudely described at the time by several observers of the event) was ridden to victory by two of Australia’s finest riders, Len Atlee and Brian Hindle. The twin-cylinder OHV Triumph managed to outlast the much-trumpeted four-cylinder OHC Honda CB750, which had arrived just two years previously but which had thus far failed to sell in any numbers. The CB750 was four laps in arrears as it limped into second place. True, the Honda looked marvellous, with its four-cylinder OHC engine, fat mufflers and impressive disc front brake, but it handled like a dead, King-sized mattress which had been badly-overworked and was thus being pelted out, and it wouldn’t stop, thanks to that impressive front disc, which was made of a very smart-looking, shiny stainless steel. This was, in fact, entirely the wrong material but the front discs Honda

LESTER THRASHES TRIUMPH

WORDS LESTER MORRIS

used in later years enjoyed a far better frictional co-efﬁcient thanks to the cast-iron material from which they were made, and were then much more effective.

It is also true that the Honda led the race until only a few laps from the end, where - in a vain effort to have more effective braking - a disc-pad change was made. This lost the race to the Honda because the pads were binding against the disc so badly the bike could hardly pull itself up the steep hill just after the ﬁnishing line on the tight Amaroo Park circuit.

I was the commentator at that historic event on Amaroo Park in 1970, and I remember describing the Honda’s dilemma as it limped around the circuit, the front brake binding so badly the bike was hard to control through corners: the front brake, in effect, almost locked on. The news of the swift repair had slowly ﬁltered up to the commentary box from the pits by my ‘runner’ (who was more like a very casual stroller than a runner, if you ask me), and I wondered aloud if it might have been better to press on with the brakes just as they were – which were, in effect, quite unsafe - rather than to take the chance on changing the disc pads at that critical stage of the long race. But history has recorded that the CB750 had ‘arrived’ as a result of Craig Brown’s impressive

performance on the big Honda in 1970, the Japanese machine by then gaining much more acceptance from previously suspicious motorcyclists. The (inevitable) result was that ten 750 Hondas were entered in the 1971 Six Hour event, where they ﬁlled both ﬁrst and third places. The illhandling XS650 Yamaha twin, with its awful, nylon swing-arm bushes, separated the two machines, which had covered some 330 laps; nineteen laps more than the Triumph covered in 1970. The brave co-riders of that frightful Yamaha were Tony Hatton and Paul Spooner.

And what of that Six-Hour Triumph in 1980, which was entered in the race by Peter Stevens Motorcycles in Melbourne; what happened to it?

Well, I was asked by Two Wheels to ride the bike back to Melbourne from where it had been entered in the race and then, for some unaccountable reason, to ride the bike home to Sydney again. In effect, it was to be a two-way, in-depth report for the Triumph Feature on how the bike behaved after it had been mercilessly thrashed for Six Hours at Amaroo Park. The bike looked as though it had had a very hard time during the long race, for it bore many long, smear marks from petrol spilled during frantic pit stops, and the footrests were much shorter than

standard for they had spent most of the race being ground away during some very hard cornering. When I announced the plan to several acquaintances I was assured that the machine would conk out about 30Km later at about Liverpool, and this intelligence was uttered to me by several enthusiasts who should have known better; enthusiasts who marvelled at the fact that the old-fashioned, British OHV twin (whose Genesis could be traced back to a 1933 design by Val Page) had managed to ﬁ nish the event at Amaroo without exploding at about the half-way mark

There was a so-called ‘petrol strike’ at the time, with very, very few service stations open, but I managed to ﬁ ll the large tank to the brim and then attached a two-gallon plastic fuel can to the rear of the dualseat with a couple of Areolastics. I then double checked the large toolkit with which the bike had come equipped and made ready to set off.

At the last of six service stations (I could only buy a few litres from each of them) I checked the tyre pressures very carefully, to discover the Triumph was ﬁ tted with Michelin tyres: probably the world’s best car tyres, but I admit I had never seen them ﬁ tted to a motorcycle before – nor since, for that matter. The tyres actually had more rubber on them after the race than they had when the 6-Hour race began, for there were numerous small pieces of rubber/plastic material adhering to the soft French tyres which had been sloughed off from other bikes’ tyres during the hectic event. The Triumph’s tyres looked to be in very good nick by comparison, even after such a thrashing, for they had plenty of their own meat on them, augmented by quite a few clicks’ worth of ‘foreign’ material. It was no surprise that the Triumph made it all the way to Liverpool without blowing up, as the open road then beckoned us and we soon got

into our stride. While I was of course fully out-fi tted with a set of Belstaff ‘greasies’, substantial boots, neatfi tting gloves and Nolan full-face helmet, the bike was entirely naked. This meant that any high-speed, self-generated, buffeting winds we would encounter on the journey would be battering against the rider, rather than being neatly sliced through via the agency of a trim, close-fi tting fairing.

That was fi ne with me, because I was well used to riding a huge variety of un-streamlined motorcycles over many years and have long suggested that, on a long ride such as this, man and machine become as one: half-man half- machine, something like a mechanical Centaur. It meant staying fi rmly in the saddle, instead of hanging off the inside of the bike in fast corners like a badly-packed bag of spuds. It also meant the old trick of lightly fl exed elbows, which stops road shocks being transmitted directly to the base of one’s head

He of course ran wide on the exit, which allowed me slip back a gear and dive underneath him as he brought up a puff of dust on the exit. I held him off without trouble up and over the Razorback Mount, but he shot past on a straight section and took off like a rocket towards Camden and was soon gone. I reckon honour was satisﬁ ed through some great corners earlier on so I let him go, to ﬁ nd out, many clicks later, that he had been pulled over by a Police motorcyclist.

After just over nine hours in the saddle, I arrived home as sore as a boil, my short ﬁ ngers and too-thin wrists aching and almost useless, to be greeted by a warm Radox bath my nearest and dearest had thoughtfully ﬁ lled nearly to the brim.

It was luxury beyond measure, punctuated by the news that Honda had rung the previous day to invite me to be at Oran Park on the morrow (!) for the introduction of some 30-odd brand-new models.

Honda had been asleep at the switch for several years on the motorcycle front, for the company had spent most of that time improving their range of small cars, while introducing the very successful, mid-sized Honda Accord.

It was time now to turn the company’s attention to the new range of motorcycles, which included several off-road models, a 50cc moped (?), and the very exciting, all-new CB750F and CB900F sports machines which arrived, as usual, a full year before they appeared in America..

I wore my race leathers to Oran Park but I drove the car there, if only because I didn’t want to be sneered at by a bunch of ‘superior’ journos who might have thought it very amusing if they had to watch me run-andbump start the shit-box Triumph, its battery by now absolutely dead. At the time, the bike was closeted in George Heggie’s motorcycle store at Hurstville, to where I had happily delivered it.

But what a day that turned out to be at Oran Park! I enjoyed bouncing off several berms and sliding about in the dirt on the new 250 and 400cc off-road Enduro machines, a lap on the awful 50cc moped – which we all had to endure for some odd reason - but for me the bike of the day was the smaller CB750F sports roadster. The CB900F was very exciting, but the 750 suited me much better, and was clearly as quick round the circuit, for it managed to hold off several challenges from other riders on the bigger 900cc sportster. And no, we were not actually racing each other (?), for we were told not to do so (?).

The 750 was not only slightly smaller, and of course lighter, but also narrower than the 900, which was great in the corners for, even with the inner mufﬂ ers on the deck and the footrests scraping, it could out-muscle the larger machine almost everywhere - the long straight excluded, of course! 

Moto Guzzi Ducati Dellor to Brembo Accessories

WHATSAYYOU

WELOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, the letters are among the most keenly read parts of the magazine. Please try and keep letters down to no more than 300 words. Then you can read many, not just a couple. We do reserve the right to cut them and, unless you identify yourself and at least your town or suburb and state, we will print your email address instead. Please address letters to thebear@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist Magazine, PO Box 2066, Boronia Park NSW 2111. All opinions published here are those of the writers and we do not vouch for their accuracy or even their sanity!

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Hi Peter, Stuart and team.

bikes, I asked a local what he rode. And his missus at the other end of the bar answered - he rode her. She didn’t elaborate, and I don’t recall what he said he rode. I choked a little, sorry bear. If I’d drunk at the g g a I would have had the coping skills.

Just read the August 16 episode. Some really good stories and interesting new products.

I love this sunburnt country. And recently I was prompted to check out a little more of the sweeping plains. Our trip started from Dorrigo.

Highlights were:

A beer at the Hebel pub and great food at Hebel Store across the road - best feed of trip and in recent memory.

Seeing the Barwon, Darling, Bogan, Castlereagh, Macquarie and Lachlan Rivers.

The Crossley engine at Bourke, the Temora aircraft museum. And the banter at the bar at the pubs we stayed at.

Can’t mention them all. Hebel pub is a real character/icon pub. The Mendooran pub had a nice warm ﬁre, great food and rooms.

Funniest episode was when seated at the bar of a pub somewhere, talking

MYSTERY GRIZZLE

Dear Bear,

I have been reading the magazine regularly since I came back to motorcycling. I enjoy it very much,

So to get to the point. My mate Al and I pretty much rode a crosssection of the Premier State. There seems to be a mix of successful and less successful villages and towns in western NSW. Possibly the little ones lose people and jobs to the big ones. There was talk from people north and south that it’s gone s#%& shaped. The ‘60s and ‘70s were the good times, said the cleaning lady at one pub.

It seems I need to be thankful to backpackers for picking my fruit and for cooking and pulling beers in pubs. (But there’s politics around visas, tax and pay - and the absence of Australian workers). Apparently the grey nomads are a big help to rural towns. In many places the locals just can’t get trades people. What a miserable situation for someone whose fridge broke down or drains were blocked etc.

It’s good to know that riders are also supporting country townsoften the rider and bike get looked after. The pub reviews in Australian Motorcyclist are a great idea - that’s leadership.

I love the country and our country

I love the country and our country folk. But I’m left wondering about the Premier State. What’s happened to our leadership and what is the future of the Bush?

We planned to do the Darling River Run. But nothing went to plan. Rain meant roads were closed.

So we improvised and had a ball. Pics are of the Crossley engine (we decided it was a parallel twin) and the Hebel pub (it’s on the cover of Australian Bush Pubs). Cheers, Josh

Josh, you’ve put your ﬁnger on a problem that’s pretty much world-wide. I’m going to put together a bit of a story about the depopulation of small towns and villages. Meanwhile, we’ll keep encouraging people to get out there and see the bush, and feed a bit of money to the smaller settlements. I wish there was more we can do – The Bear

especially your contributions. I don’t understand why your page early on is called ‘Grizzling’. It is very entertaining and does not seem negative or grizzly to me. Is it just called that because

there is a bear with the same name? This seems an odd choice of words.

Yours sincerely, Jocelyn Barron Vaucluse NSW

Good point, Jocelyn. I called it that because in the early days I was using it mainly to complain about the way people were ignoring motorcyclists, and even passing laws that forgot us or were directly aimed at us. That seems to be happening less and less, so I have less and less of that kind of material for the column –and I’m turning positive in my old age! Please forgive me… - The Bear

SYNCHRO IN SPAIN

Stuart,

I know it’s not real clear, wife took the photo through the windscreen at 120kph. These signs are all down the expressways in Spain. When I saw it, my ﬁrst thoughts were: Stuart and Boris doing synchronised stoppies. Jim

LOL! Only thing is that Boris would probably crash – Stuart.

SPECIAL TIME IN CUBA

Hi Stuart and Peter, Are there any places left in the Bear Army? If there are I might take that option – realistically I may never get to a meeting, but you never know. If not I will renew normally online. I enjoyed the recent writing on the Cuba trip – I go there regularly to visit my mother-in-law, after living there for 18 months in the mid-1990s with her and my future wife (in the middle of the “Special Period in Peacetime” post-Soviet shortages, blackouts, transport collapse, etc). We got around on a single speed Chinese push bike (2 of us on one bike), and later on a singlecylinder Russian motorbike. I managed to do enough research to write a history of secondary schooling in Cuba, 1959-1989. We still appreciate many of the things Cuba achieved since 1959, not un-

push bike (2 of us on one I managed to do enough

critically, but that’s a longer story. I almost wrote in about the controversial cover of the magazine a few issues ago, but that would also have needed a long piece, and it seems to have died down. I’m on the side of avoiding those sorts of presentations of women for many well-established reasons, but maybe efforts on those issues need to be prioritised elsewhere? AM is the only motorcycle mag I buy and read (I started with ARR and switched over), and really like the bike and accessory reviews, the quality of the writing, and tips for touring, etc.

All the best, Tom

Callaghan NSW

There’s deﬁnitely room left in the Bear Army, Tom. You’ll be most welcome. As for our tribute to the hot rod pinups of the ‘60s, opinions are clearly divided! – The Bear

WHEREZAT MAG AT?

Hi there Stuart et al, I would like to report that despite my veiled threats to the postie, I did not

SHORT ADELAIDE TOURS ON BENELLI BN600Rs

Don’t have much time? We lead one-day or shorter tours on some of the best roads in the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula. Hire exciting BN600R Benellis. Visit www.radtours.com.au and click on the TOUR LOCATIONS button.

WHATSAYYOU

receive this month’s magazine. Not to miss out, I've sourced a copy from my local newsagency.

I'm not sure if it went missing in the bowels of Australia Post, but I thought I would report it to you anyway.

Now that I'm retired, I look forward to the magazine more than I used to while still working, and I don't like missing out on my treats.

I still haven't decided on a new bike yet. Test rode a Multistrada S last week. Next week the better half and I are off to the USA for 3 weeks.

A week in SFO and the rest with friends in Oregon, including a week on a rented Harley (another test ride, on a Heriage Softail Classic) touring with them. Having done Portland to Montana (including Glacier National Park) two years ago, this year I think we're doing the coast of Oregon. I'll send you some pics. Did I say how much I enjoy the magazine?

Cheers Murray

I‘m pleased that you like the magazine, Murray. Thank you. Your travel and purchasing options sound like fun… We have had a problem with some missing magazines in your area. Australia Post is checking it now – The Bear

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

We have just begun sending out a weekly catchup to our subscribers, giving them a little background on the varied, exciting and stylish goings-on behind the scenes at Australian MOTORCYCLIST. Stuart and I will alternate in preparing it. Below are a few of the reactions we received. If you’d like to get on the mailing list for the catchup, just subscribe!

Guys, just read this & I LOVED it. I particularly love the short, sharp, punchy writing. And the pictures polish it off nicely. If this sets the standard then I look forward to each week. Keep it up.

David Greig Hobart

Roadies

Dear Peter, Thanks for the bear facts! We look forward to the full report in the mag.

Nice Touch!

Don

Hey guys, Love this new idea. Great way to keep in touch with a quick update. Makes you feel part of the AM family.

Cheers

Col Endacott

Peter, great idea.... chance to get some of the back stories.

Safe travels.

Hi Guys, Thanks for this; I think it is a great idea, short, snappy and personal, and I hope you will continue with it.

Cheers

Bob Howie

Hello Peter, Many thanks for this short but

Friday and Saturnday nights the doors re-open at 6.00pm for pizzas and our

Phone: 02 6579 7015 info@greygumcafe.com.au www.greygumcafe.com.au

EXACTLY HALFWAY BETWEEN WINDSOR AND SINGLETON ON YOUR PUTTY ROAD RIDE

CLUBS AND GROUPS WELCOMEPHONE AHEAD FOR QUICKER SERVICE

 Cafe Style Food

 Giftwares

 Toilets/Showers

 Air Conditioned

 Free 24 hour Camping

 Open 7 days 7.00am to 5.00pm and by appointment for evening functions 8679 Putty Rd, Putty NSW

Motorcyclists Ken and Tania welcome you to their highly recommended cafe. Wood Fired Pizza, Tapas and Espresso Bar.

interesting email. If you ﬁnd you are not able to attend the H-D launch I would be more than happy to take your spot.

Cheers, Les (Melbourne)

And some people just can’t resist getting all they can out of a letter…

AN RT OR A GSA?

Bear,

I don’t know if you are expecting replies to your E-mail [the catchup], but you are getting one:

First: The fact you have found an alcoholic drink that you don’t like… Are you feeling all right… I look forward to reading the story. Second: I was going to say something rude, but it normally doesn’t translate well in an E-mail (learnt that the hard way) but I am extremely jealous that you go Jet setting all over the world to ride motor bikes. The only thing that would preclude me from doing that is the complete lack of talent for both riding and writing (my talent for riding

outweighs my talent for writing and my riding leaves a lot to be desired). Third: This is the tricky one…. I was given permission to buy a new bike, (by the minister of ﬁnance, war and all things unfair) assuming I saved the money. Did that but then important domestic items came along that saw that pool of money depleted somewhat. Anyway to cut a long story short (too late?), time has passed and I am back looking again. I worked out last time that the bike was going to be a R1200GSA, however, after test riding all the bikes concerned (KTM, Triumph, BMW etc.) wandering around the various stores I saw the touring equivalents and I gave into temptation and rode a R1200RT now I am really in trouble, do I stick with the GSA or start the process all over again and look at the RT and equivalents. A little bit of back ground, I am not a small person, both in height and girth (I blame the alcohol for that). Currently my riding entails 95% bitumen and 5% Dirt. The caveat on that is I will ride a 1000km to ride a

strip of dirt road (e.g. the Barry way a few years ago now). I am Pretty sure that the RT would be shocking on dirt and I am quite happy with the GSA and riding it on the bitumen, so as you can tell I am leaning towards the GSA. (GSA because it has all the extra bits I want including a long range tank), being from SA I like to/ need to ride a long way in one hit, which my mates on bikes with small tanks hate, (I might mention to them, occasionally, that I only need to ﬁ ll up at intervals of 400km).

Any way back to the problem in hand as a person who rides a lot of bikes do you have any insight that may help in the decision making process?

Don’t ﬁ rst world problems suck…

Regards

Ted Carver

It sounds as if you really enjoy riding dirt roads, Ted, so I think the GSA would be the better choice for you. The RT might disappoint you in the dirt; the GSA will be ﬁ ne anywhere – The Bear 

New motorcycle prices go up, they go down. It can be hard to keep track of all the changes. Australian Motorcyclist Magazine supplies you with all the latest up to date prices

from all the manufacturers currently in the country. Things like special deals, cashbacks, factory discounts and bonuses are what you’ll ﬁnd. Bear in mind all prices (unless indicated) exclude dealer and on road costs and some prices may have changed at the last minute as we went to the printer. DB11 $56,990

www.bmwmotorrad.com.au Road

G 310 R $TBA

F 800 R

$13,100

R 1200 RS Exclusive

$23,250

R 1200 RT $30,790

K 1300 R $21,990

K 1300 S

K 1300 S Motorsport

K 1600 GT $35,990

K 1600 GT Sport

K 1600 GTL

BENELLI

$36,490

$37,590

K 1600 GTL Exclusive $42,500 adv SpoRt

S 1000 XR $22,190 adv touRing

G 650 GS $9990

G 650 GS Sertao $10,990

F 700 GS $12,890

F 700 GS LS

F 800 GS

F 800 GS LS

R 1200 GSA

ScooteR

$13,140

$16,690

TnT 899

TnT 1130 R $22,690

Tre-K 1130 $18,490 adv touRing

Tre-K Amazonas $19,690

www.bimotaaustralia.com.au Road

C 600 Sport $13,990

C 600 Sport SE

C 650 GT $14,990

C 650 GT SE

MV AGUSTA

www.mvagusta.com.au

RoAd

Brutale 675

F3 675

Brutale 800

Brutale 800 RR

Brutale 800 Dragster

Brutale 800 Dragster RR

Dragster RR LH44

F3 800

F3 800 RC

$15,799

$18,699

$19,999

$20,499

$23,499

$36,880

$19,999

$23,490

Stradale 800 $19,999

Turismo Veloce 800

Turismo Veloce Lusso 800

Brutale 1090

Brutale 1090 RR

Brutale 1090 Corsa

F4 RR

F4 RC

$20,499

$23,499

$19,999

$22,999

$27,999

$24,499

$33,999

$55,880

NORTON MOTORCYCLeS

PGO

www.pgo-scooter.com

PIAGGIO

www.piaggio.com.au *Some Piaggio prices are ride away

TORINO

URAL

www.imz-ural.com.au

Road cT

TRIUMPH

VESPA

www.vespa.com.au

SCootER

Primavera 125 3V

Primavera 150 3V

$5590

Rocket III Roadster ABS

Rocket III Touring ABS

toURIng

Tiger 800 XR $14,090

Tiger 800 XRX/L

Tiger 800 XRT $18,150

Tiger 800 XC $15,590

Tiger

GTS250ie FL

GTS300 Super

GTS300 Super Sport

VICTORY

www.victorymotorcycles.com.au

*All Victory prices are ride away CRUISER

Octane

$18,995 Vegas 8 Ball $21,995

VIPER MOTORCYCLES

BEARFACED

SURVIVAL OF THE FURRIEST

I was entertaining one of our contributors, Elspeth Callender, over coffee with a few tales of my travels when she looked me in the eye (although I do have two) and asked “How are you still alive?” It’s possible that I had been telling her about riding my XL250 Honda in Iran. I can’t remember. I have to admit that tales of riding there can be a little daunting…

The thing is that there is a strong culture of machismo in Iran. I don’t know what the Persian word for “machismo” is, but there is plenty about – and it impacts (sometimes literally) on motorcyclists. You see, Iranians are among the most hospitable people in the world. Stop anywhere and you’re practically buried under slices of watermelon, cups of tea and sticks of kebab. You will have cigarettes slipped between your lips and lit and you will be given a place of honour on freshly rolled-out carpets. Your health, the health of your family and of your entire suburb will be examined in detail and commented upon, and you will receive copious blessings in the hope of improving any and all of these.

But then…

Then you will encounter these very same people on the road. Driving is a matter of personal, family and for all I know regional and national honour.

The driver accelerates up through the gears, and then stays there. Even when the car encounters steep hills or slow traffic.

Changing down is a sign of weakness, physical and moral. This means that traffic in Iran proceeds in irregular bunches, moving fast on the flat and overtaking when possible (and often when not possible) but slower and slower on hills.

This wouldn’t matter much, because you can always let them past you on the flat and overtake them on hills. The trouble is that overtaking is a mortal insult. The universal response is to chase you on the downhill and attempt to run you off the road. The roads in Iran are pretty good. The off-the-roads is grim, with deep sand at best and large jagged rocks at worst.

This sort of behaviour is not only directed at foreigners on motorcycles; it’s dished out to any other traffic. The mania for overtaking and the vengeful pursuit of causers of dishonour by overtaking result in some pretty spectacular crashes. Obviously the police and other authorities do not like that. Their response is to construct large rectangular stone and concrete plinths outside police stations, and displaying the latest car wrecks on them. Often with dried blood on the side.

Of course not everyone in Iran drives like this; but enough people do to create some bottompuckering memories. Other countries, other manners.

No driver in India would ever pursue you red-eyed with revenge on his mind (and yes, like Iran it is universally

“he”). No, they just ignore you. So does everyone else, even road users who, you would think, ranked below motorcycles on the totem pole. Pedestrians will step out in front of you as if they had not a care in the world; bicycles will contest road space despite the fact that they should know they’re going to lose. We had been told to get the hell out of there if we were involved in a crash. Indian crowds, we were told, would rise up and turn on us and rend us limb from limb unless we gave them all our money. Isn’t “rend” a terrific word? MerriamWebster defines it as meaning “tear, rip, rend, split, cleave, rive mean to separate forcibly. Tear implies pulling apart by force and leaving jagged edges”. Goes beautifully with “limb from limb”. Anyway, one day up in the Punjab somewhere, Charlie took out one of the locals on a pushbike.

The bloke had come out of nowhere, Charlie centre-punched him and he hit the dirt. While Charlie was trying to sort out the resulting tangle of limbs, dhoti, bicycle and XL a crowd quickly filled the intersection. One bloke kept getting in the way so Charlie pushed him and he fell, too. My concern about the crowd’s reaction was unnecessary. They fell about laughing. We shook hands all around and went on our way, our wallets intact.

And then there’s Australia. I was sideswiped by a car once and knocked out. According to my girlfriend, who remained conscious, told me that the driver kept shaking me, shouting “Are you all right? Are you all right?” despite the fact that I obviously wasn’t.

How am I even alive? 

BORIS

CHEERS, WANK-SOCKS

Iwrote a little piece on my Facebook page recently. It dealt with personal responsibility and the riding of motorcycles. It came off the back of an incident on the Old Paciﬁc Highway. One P-plater, minding his own business, came around a bend and was taken out by an on-coming P-plater who had low-sided in the same bend. Many broken bits, tears, anguish – you know how it goes. No-one died and noone was maimed, and everyone blamed the low-sider, because, after all, his incompetence is what caused the other bloke to crash.

I dared, and I always dare, to take a position that said: “Well, if you’re going to go riding on a road that is literally crawling with fools riding above and beyond any ability they will ever possess, and you are not on your A-game and expecting the worst to happen around every corner (which it does with metronomic regularity up there), then you must also share responsibility for what happened.”

Interestingly, most riders agreed with that position. Some mouth-breathers did not. Which was funny.

We are, after all, ultimately responsible for what happens to us on the road. Legally, we may be innocent of being rear-ended by a car, but we are certainly responsible for putting ourselves in a position

where being rear-ended is a possibility.

If you’re not sitting at the lights in ﬁrst gear, clutch in, scanning your mirrors, and a car runs into you, you are responsible.

Own it. Do not blame the car.

That’s the job of the court. Your job is to anticipate everything and ride accordingly. Motorcycling is a blood sport in every sense of the word. We forget that at our peril.

But this regular lemming-like attendance upon certain motorcycle hot-spots, as I imagine the Highway Patrol think of them (along with “target-rich environments” and “infringement-book ﬁlling stations”) is another matter altogether.

Of course, it is linked to the whole personal responsibility thing. You go up the Old Road on a sunny Sunday, and you have a fair-to-middling chance of being nailed by some idiot overcooking a corner. It’s just the way it is. To pretend it is otherwise is just dumb.

So what’s the attraction then?

It’s not like you can go for a serious fang. Some of the best bits are 60km/h zones and zealously policed. And there are lots of lycra-clad shitbirds up there as well, pedalling away furiously and being self-righteous, entitled and in the way. It’s certainly not the average food and terrible coffee. Sydney has some brilliant watering holes, and none of them are on the Old Road.

So as a place to “go for a ride”, it is, by any measure, kinda shit.

So what is it that draws riders there?

I’m thinking it is a lack of imagination, fear of riding somewhere new, an inability to use a map, and some kind of gross and collective retardation.

But that cannot be right, can it?

It’s probably something altogether different, right?

Like the company of like-minded people. You know, standing around in a car-park, dressed in their gear, sipping

coffee and telling lies about how fast they ride their bikes. Or maybe it is the presence of amateur photographers perched on various bends, taking mostly bad pictures of mostly slow riders taking bends slowly, and then posting them up on Facebook. Yes, that must certainly be a contributing factor for the large motorcycling crowds each sunny Sunday.

The combination of getting your picture taken riding at the speed limit and then standing in a car-park with other riders who may have gotten their picture taken is clearly an irresistible siren-call for many motorcyclists.

After all, Australia is such a small country, huh? There are too few good roads and great rides can only be found within 60km of the city centres, right?

Except they are not rides at all. Not really. Not as I understand rides to be. A ride is when you ride. And ride. And ride some more. You do lots of corners, at lots of speeds. You warm up your tyres, and you feed your aching soul. It’s not doing the speed limit on a road crawling with cops and then standing in a car-park. It never has been.

That riders would voluntarily subject themselves to this nonsense time and again is simply amazing.

There is not altitude high enough from which I can piss properly on motorcycle owners who swarm to these hot-spots each weekend. And my bladder is just not big enough for all the urine required to spray each of them thoroughly.

But happily, Australia is certainly vast enough for me not to have to share car-park space, overcooked corners and bad coffee with these hobbyists. I am pleased they go where they go, and do what they do. It keeps the Highway Patrol amused and occupied in places other than where I am on weekends.

So cheers, wank-socks. You keep right on keeping on, and do what you do every sunny Sunday. And keep telling yourselves you so ‘got’ this motorcycle thing.

I’ll be out riding motorcycles.

PLAY WITH CONTROL.

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